Previous studies demonstrated that adult murine prostate basal and luminal cells are independently self-sustained, but prostate basal cells possess the potential to differentiate into multiple lineages upon induction by embryonic urogenital sinus mesenchyme. Nevertheless, it is unknown how prostate epithelia mature during the postnatal stage. Recently, Ousset et al. showed that some prostate basal cells in neonatal mice still possess the capacity for multilineage differentiation, while luminal cells have committed to become unipotent. This study demonstrates a developmental stage-dependent switch of the mechanisms for prostate epithelial maintenance, and implies a critical role of the stromal environment in regulating epithelial maintenance.

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