The prostate is a ductal gland that wraps around the urethra at the base of the bladder. Interest in the prostate stems primarily from its high disease susceptibility. The prostate is subject to three major pathological afflictions: benign prostatic hyperplasia (PBH), prostate cancer and chronic inflammatory prostatitis. While prostate cancer and BPH have absorbed the major interest in prostate research, chronic inflammatory prostatitis has been less well studied and its incidence underestimated until a decade ago. Opinions on the relation between prostate inflammation and prostate cancer are divided. One school of thought proposes that inflammation leads to or increases prostate carcinogenesis while the other group suggests that inflammation actually prevents prostate carcinogenesis.

The major goal of my project is to develop a mouse model for inflammation of the prostate. The model will help us understand and resolve the relationship between these two major diseases. To obtain an accurate and complete understanding of inflammation, the model must closely resemble the actual disease. This necessitates the ability to control inflammation in both a spatial and temporal manner. Two lines of mice that express different forms of the bacteriophage protein Cre under the control of a prostate specific promoter have been generated. While one form is constitutively on, the other form known as CRE-ERt2 is inducible. Another line of transgenic mice will carry an inflammatory molecule, known to be elevated in prostatitis patients, downstream of a floxed stop of transcription. Mating of these two lines will obtain double transgenic mice that express the inflammatory molecule specifically in the prostate. These mice will help establish a model for inflammation in the prostate.