FRIDAY, June 5 (HealthDay News) -- Analysis of a rat model of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) has identified a cellular signaling network and targets that could be exploited for therapeutics, according to a study published online May 14 in Endocrinology.

Jayoung Kim, Ph.D., from Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues examined gene expression in prostate tissue from a rat model of BPH using a DNA microarray to identify possibly relevant cellular signaling pathways.

The researchers found that there was significant involvement of inflammatory pathways, including the transforming growth factor-β pathway. They also identified a series of independent interactions involving clusterin (apolipoprotein J). The expression of both transforming growth factor-β and clusterin increased in tissue from rats with BPH.

"In conclusion, we describe a novel signaling network model as a potential mechanism for histomorphologic changes in the prostate induced by persistent α(1)-adrenergic stimulation," Kim and colleagues write. "The study also implicated clusterin as a novel biochemical target for therapy."

Abstract
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