Lxrα regulates the androgen response in prostate epithelium

Abstract

Benign prostatic hyperplasia is a nonmalignant enlargement of the prostate that commonly occurs in older men. We show that liver X receptor (Lxr)-α knockout mice (lxrα-/-) develop ventral prostate hypertrophy, correlating with an overaccumulation of secreted proteins in prostatic ducts and an alteration of vesicular trafficking in epithelial cells. In the fluid of the lxrα-/- prostates, spermine binding protein is highly accumulated and shows a 3000-fold increase of its mRNA. This overexpression is mediated by androgen hypersensitivity in lxrα-/- mice, restricted to the ventral prostate. Generation of chimeric recombinant prostates demonstrates that Lxrα is involved in the establishment of the epithelial-mesenchymal interactions in the mouse prostate. Altogether these results point out the crucial role of Lxrα in the homeostasis of the ventral prostate and suggest lxrα-/- mice may be a good model to investigate the molecular mechanisms of benign prostatic hyperplasia. Copyright © 2012 by The Endocrine Society.