# Molecular and fate maps of prostatic stroma

> **NIH NIH U01** · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · 2020 · $299,709

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 An impressive suite of tools is available for studying prostatic epithelial cells; surprisingly few exist for
prostatic stroma, even though it drives most of the prostate's significant biologic behaviors. Prostatic stroma
initiates glandular development and releases paracrine signals that stimulate epithelial growth during benign
hyperplasia and cancer. It also synthesizes extracellular matrix molecules that mediate regenerative repair and
increase organ stiffness, factors recently associated with urinary dysfunction. Pinpointing prostatic stromal
progenitors and factors involved in their proliferation and differentiation are the first steps in identifying cellular
mechanisms responsible for stroma-based disease processes. Our first aim uses a mouse genetic approach to
identify progenitors giving rise to prostatic fibroblasts, smooth muscle cells, perivascular cells and urinary striated
muscle sphincter myocytes. We will use immunostaining and multispectral imaging to assign lineage labeled
cells to two- and three—dimensional maps of prostatic stromal sub-compartments. These data will be presented
using an innovative online tool that connects researchers with validated cre-expressing mouse lines and stromal-
cell selective antibodies. Our second aim is to create a developing human prostatic stroma RNA and protein
expression atlas to stimulate hypotheses that are relevant to prostatic disease causing behaviors of stromal
progenitors identified in Aim 1. We will map expression patterns for key growth factors, receptors, and
transcription factors that potentially mediate prostatic stromal and epithelial differentiation. This work
complements the high-resolution developing mouse prostatic atlas we made previously for GUDMAP. Our results
will be used to generate online tutorials of prostate development and we will identify homologous compartments
between mouse and human. We will annotate human data when possible with the same terms used previously
to annotate mouse data, providing a searchable online dataset which enables investigators to compare
RNA/protein expression between mouse and human and identify conserved pathways across species. Our data
will equip the prostate research community with the necessary tools to design and test new hypotheses about
the pathogenic role of prostatic stroma in benign hyperplasia, inflammation, pain, and cancer.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9944646
- **Project number:** 5U01DK110807-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
- **Principal Investigator:** CHAD M. VEZINA
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $299,709
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-15 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9944646

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9944646, Molecular and fate maps of prostatic stroma (5U01DK110807-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9944646. Licensed CC0.

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