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A Budding Success
31 January 2013

A Budding Success

As prostate cancer rates rise, researchers are racing to understand the faulty genes that fuel the disease and find more effective treatments. This task is made tougher by the fact that only a handful of gene faults have been found so far. One new kid on this genetic block is beta-catenin, which is implicated in a number of other cancers. To find out more about beta-catenin's role in normal prostate growth and in cancer, researchers have bred 'knockout' mice lacking the gene. On the left is the developing prostate gland of a mouse just a few days before birth, showing orange-coloured buds that will go on to form fluid-secreting ducts in the adult prostate. These buds haven't properly formed in the gland on the right, taken from a mouse lacking beta-catenin. The scientists have found that beta-catenin is also involved in aggressive prostate cancer, revealing new routes to potential therapies.

Written by Kat Arney

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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