Prostate gland grown in laboratory
From:  
By Shelley Markham
February 24, 2006


AN all-woman team of Australian scientists has achieved a breakthrough
for the world's males, by creating the first "man-made" prostate.
The team from Melbourne's Monash Institute of Medical Research -
comprising scientists Prue Cowin, Professor Gail Risbridger and Dr
Renea Taylor - are claiming a world first by growing a human prostate
in a mouse using embryonic stem cells.

The medical breakthrough came after three years of research, backed by
the US Department of Veterans Affairs and Australian financial company
Perpetual, which between them provided $1 million in funding.

Professor Risbridger said the discovery would have a significant
impact on research into cancer of the prostate, the walnut-shaped
gland that surrounds the urethra at the neck of the male bladder.

"We will have the opportunity to study the transition of healthy
prostate tissue to cancer," Professor Risbridger said.

"Not only will this enable us to develop new, more effective ways of
treating diseases that affect nearly every man, but we hope,
eventually, to find a way to prevent these diseases in the first
place.

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"This is a world first. People working on prostate cancer treatments
would use this model worldwide."

Dr Taylor said the team grew the prostate tissue in the laboratory
before implanting it into a mouse, which acted as a host.

She said the cells then developed into a human prostate secreting
hormones and PSA, which is a substance in the blood used to diagnose
prostate disease.

"We've taken these embryonic stem cells to a point where they are
actually functioning like a human prostate," Dr Taylor said.

"Now we have this model in the lab which has many, many uses.

"It's easy for us to get access to, it's housed in a mouse and it's
essentially human prostate tissue that we can use for many diagnostic
tests in the future."

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Australian men behind
lung cancer, according to the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

Every year, about 10,000 Australian men are diagnosed with prostate
cancer and more than 2500 die of the disease.

Pathologist John Pedersen, from Melbourne's Alfred Hospital, said the
impact of benign prostatic hyperplasia was equally significant.

He said BPH affected 90 per cent of men by the time they reached 80
years of age and while it was not usually life-threatening it could
have a dramatic impact on quality of life.

"The prostate enlarges over time and while this is subtle, men can
have problems such as finding it harder to pass urine," Mr Pedersen
said.

And he did not mind that a group of women have been the first
researchers to develop a "man-made", or laboratory-grown, prostate.

"I don't mind who did it. It doesn't matter, the sex," he said.

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