Evaluation of the presence of adult stem cells in the gerbil female prostate stroma and the role of telocytes on them in a context of induced carcinogenesis

• Grant number: 20/02806-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2020
• End date: March 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Morphology - Histology
• Principal Investigator: Sebastião Roberto Taboga
• Grantee: Vitória Alario dos Santos
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas (IBILCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São José do Rio Preto. São José do Rio Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The prostate gland has been found in females of several species during the last couple of decades, including in woman, Although the female prostate is smaller than the male's, it has functional alveoli and there are indications that it can be affected by the same pathologies as that of males, such as cancer. However, little is known about female prostate tissue dynamics, especially how stromal cells interact and the occurrence of adult stem cells. Nor is it known how these cells behave in pathological contexts, such as cancer. In view of this, the project aims to identify adult stem cells and other adult progenitors in the prostate stroma of female Mongolian gerbils, a rodent species whose presence of the prostate is very frequent, and to evaluate the possible role of telocytes, which are recently characterized stromal cells, on the maintenance of the stem cell microenvironment in the prostate stroma of Mongolian gerbil females in a normal context and in a context of ENU/Testosterone/Estradiol-induced carcinogenesis. Therefore, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry and transmission electron microscopy techniques will be used. We expect to found new evidences about the presence of adult stem cells in female prostate stroma and shed light on the ways that they may be affected by an induced carcinogenesis environment, thus providing in-depth data on reactive stroma formation and the way stem cells may act in this context.