Isolation and functional characterization of murine prostate stem cells

doi:10.1073/pnas.0609684104

Isolation and functional characterization of murine prostate stem cells

*Departments of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics and
^‡Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, David Geffen School of Medicine, and
^†Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095

Contributed by Owen N. Witte, November 3, 2006 (received for review October 19, 2006)

Abstract

The ability to isolate prostate stem cells is essential to explore their role in prostate development and disease. In vitro prostate colony- and sphere-forming assays were used to quantitatively measure murine prostate stem/progenitor cell enrichment and self-renewal. Cell surface markers were screened for their ability to positively or negatively enrich for cells with enhanced growth potential in these assays. Immunohistochemical and FACS analyses demonstrate that specific cell surface markers can be used to discriminate prostate stromal (CD34⁺), luminal epithelial (CD24⁺CD49f⁻), basal epithelial (CD24⁺CD49f⁺), hematopoietic (CD45⁺, Ter119⁺), and endothelial (CD31⁺) lineages. Sorting for cells with a CD45⁻CD31⁻Ter119⁻Sca-1⁺CD49f⁺ antigenic profile results in a 60-fold enrichment for colony- and sphere-forming cells. These cells can self-renew and expand to form spheres for many generations and can differentiate to produce prostatic tubule structures containing both basal and luminal cells in vivo. These cells also localize to the basal cell layer within the region of the gland that is proximal to the urethra, which has been identified as the prostate stem cell niche. Prostate stem cells can be isolated to a purity of up to 1 in 35 by using this antigenic profile. The remarkable similarity in cell surface profile between prostate and mammary gland stem cells suggests these markers may be conserved among epithelial stem cell populations.

Footnotes

^§To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: owenw{at}microbio.ucla.edu
Author contributions: D.A.L., L.X., R.U.L., and O.N.W. designed research; D.A.L., L.X., R.U.L., and D.C. performed research; D.A.L., L.X., R.U.L., D.C., and O.N.W. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; D.A.L., L.X., R.U.L., D.C., and O.N.W. analyzed data; and D.A.L. and O.N.W. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0609684104/DC1.
Abbreviations:

CD,

cluster designation;

CK,

cytokeratin;

LSC,

Lin−Sca-1+CD49f+;

SMA,

smooth muscle actin;

UGSM,

urogenital sinus mesenchyme.
Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.