Stromal-epithelial interactions Sample Clauses

Stromal-epithelial interactions the Reactive Stroma in PCa. Cell-intrinsic changes in biochemistry are fundamentally important in the emergence of neoplastic cells, but it is now generally accepted that the reciprocal interactions between neoplastic epithelia and the surrounding stroma are critical in supporting growth and progression of emerging neoplasms. The stromal compartment within the prostate surrounds the secretory epithelium and is separated from the luminal and basal epithelial layer by a robust matrix named the basal lamina (fig 1.4B). In health, the stromal response to androgen signalling is the expression of paracrine factors which regulate the growth, survival of the epithelium, as well as maintaining tissue differentiation (Xxx et al., 2012). The stroma itself is a plastic tissue whose components vary temporally and spatially in response to micro-environmental cues. For example, stroma will respond to insult and injury with the appropriate wound healing response; or to the presence of microorganisms in the lumen of the prostate, with the appropriate inflammatory response. This coordinated mobilisation of stromal components, including the genotypic and phenotypic changes that accompany it, have been termed the reactive stroma (Xxxxxxx et al., 2001). There is now a well- established etiological link between chronic prostatic inflammation and the development of PCa (Xx Xxxxx et al., 2007), and the accepted paradigm is that the changes in the stroma which accompany the onset and development/resolution of inflammation are important in supporting prostate carcinogenesis. Indeed, it is thought that any response by the stroma to a damaged or disrupted epithelium, be it to chronic inflammation, wounding, benign prostatic hyperplasia, or the early stages of neoplastic growth, can induce a reactive stromal phenotype (Xxxxxx and Xxxxxx, 2012).