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Abstract
Stromal-epithelial interaction is essential for maintaining the niche of stem cells and regulating organ development and cancer progression. Numerous cell signaling pathways facilitate stromal-epithelial interaction. Among those, androgen receptor (AR) signaling in fibroblast cells regulates prostate stem cells (PrSCs), thereby controlling prostate development under the induction of endogenous androgen and exogenous inhibitors. In this study, we used an in vitro experiment to study biological function of NIH 3T3 fibroblasts and molecular function of AR in regulating the sphere formation potential of prostate primary cells. We demonstrate that co-culture of 3T3 fibroblast cells with prostate primary cells significantly increased the sphere number. Additionally, overexpression of AR in 3T3 cells further enhanced sphere formation potential. However, activation of AR signaling by addition of an AR agonist R1881 inhibited the sphere number. Our study suggests the functional role of fibroblast cells and the goldilocks’ effect of AR signaling in regulation of PrSCs activity.