Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and estrogen receptor α mediated epithelial dedifferentiation mark the development of benign prostatic hyperplasia

Abstract

Epithelial and mesenchymal phenotype switching is an important mechanism in the etiology of BPH. ERα mediated enhanced estrogenic effect is a crucial inductive factor of epithelial dedifferentiation giving rise to activation of an EMT program in prostate epithelium.