[Infiltrating mast cells promote neuroendocrine differentiation and increase docetaxel resistance of prostate cancer cells by up-regulating p21].

Objective: To investigate the effect of infiltrating mast cells on neuroendocrine differentiation (NED) and docetaxel sensitivity of prostate cancer (PCa) cells in vitro.

Methods: Human PCa cell lines (LNCaP and C4-2) were co-cultured with human mast cell line (HMC-1) in Transwell chambers. Androgen receptor (AR) was silenced in C4-2 cells using sh-AR lentivirus, and p21 was knocked down and overexpressed by transfecting C4-2 cells with pLKO.