The induction of adenocarcinomatous differentiation in neoplastic bladder epithelium by an embryonic prostatic inductor.

Epithelial cells of non-glandular, transitional cell carcinomas from rat urinary bladders were associated with embryonic rat urogenital sinus mesenchyme (a prostatic inductor) and transplanted into syngeneic adult male hosts. Neoplastic bladder epithelium formed glandular (adenocarcinomatous) acini in a substantial number of recombinants, suggesting that the mesenchyme (stroma) may influence the histotypic organization of carcinoma cells and induce the neoplastic epithelium to express a novel phenotype.