TY - JOUR
T1 - A quantitative matrigel assay for assessing repopulating capacity of prostate stem cells
AU - Azuma, Masaki
AU - Hirao, Atsushi
AU - Takubo, Keiyo
AU - Hamaguchi, Isao
AU - Kitamura, Tadaichi
AU - Suda, Toshio
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Dr. H. Saya at Kumamoto University and Dr. T. Watabe at University of Tokyo for helpful discussions. This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Specially Promoted Research from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture, Japan.
PY - 2005/12/16
Y1 - 2005/12/16
N2 - Homeostasis of prostate tissue is maintained by stem cells, although such cells have not been well characterized. Here, we report establishment of such a method using matrigel. Matrigel containing a single-cell suspension from adult prostatic cells was subcutaneously grafted into the flank of nude mice. Prostatic duct-like structures derived from donor tissue were observed in the gel 2 weeks after transplantation. Luminal and basal cells observed in the gel expressed several markers characteristic of prostatic and/or epithelial cells. When a mixture with both EGFP-positive and negative prostate cells was transplanted, prostatic ducts consisted of either EGFP-positive or negative cells and chimeric patterns were rarely observed, suggesting that ducts were reconstituted from a single cell. Stem cell number and function were also evaluated by competition with control cells. Overall this method revealed that cells localized in the proximal portion in prostate ducts had higher reconstitution capacity than those in the distal portion. We conclude that prostate stem/progenitor cells exist and that our method is applicable to analysis of prostate stem cells, epithelial mesenchyme interactions, and prostate cancer stem cells.
AB - Homeostasis of prostate tissue is maintained by stem cells, although such cells have not been well characterized. Here, we report establishment of such a method using matrigel. Matrigel containing a single-cell suspension from adult prostatic cells was subcutaneously grafted into the flank of nude mice. Prostatic duct-like structures derived from donor tissue were observed in the gel 2 weeks after transplantation. Luminal and basal cells observed in the gel expressed several markers characteristic of prostatic and/or epithelial cells. When a mixture with both EGFP-positive and negative prostate cells was transplanted, prostatic ducts consisted of either EGFP-positive or negative cells and chimeric patterns were rarely observed, suggesting that ducts were reconstituted from a single cell. Stem cell number and function were also evaluated by competition with control cells. Overall this method revealed that cells localized in the proximal portion in prostate ducts had higher reconstitution capacity than those in the distal portion. We conclude that prostate stem/progenitor cells exist and that our method is applicable to analysis of prostate stem cells, epithelial mesenchyme interactions, and prostate cancer stem cells.
KW - Matrigel transplantation
KW - Prostate stem cell
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U2 - 10.1016/j.bbrc.2005.10.055
DO - 10.1016/j.bbrc.2005.10.055
M3 - Article
C2 - 16286093
AN - SCOPUS:27744598871
VL - 338
SP - 1164
EP - 1170
JO - Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
JF - Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
SN - 0006-291X
IS - 2
ER -
