Molecular and cellular characterization of ABCG2 in the prostate
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Date
2007Author
Pascal, Laura E.
Oudes, Asa J.
Petersen, Timothy W.
Goo, Young Ah
Walashek, Laura S.
True, Lawrence D.
Liu, Alvin Y.
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Background: Identification and characterization of the prostate stem cell is important for understanding normal prostate development and carcinogenesis. The flow cytometry-based side
population (SP) technique has been developed to isolate putative adult stem cells in several human tissue types including the prostate. This phenotype is mainly mediated by the ATP-binding cassette membrane transporter ABCG2.
Methods: Immunolocalization of ABCG2 was performed on normal prostate tissue obtained from radical prostatectomies. Normal human prostate SP cells and ABCG2+ cells were isolated and gene
expression was determined with DNA array analysis and RT-PCR. Endothelial cells were removed by pre-sorting with CD31.
Results: ABCG2 positive cells were localized to the prostate basal epithelium and endothelium. ABCG2+ cells in the basal epithelium constituted less than 1% of the total basal cell population. SP
cells constituted 0.5�3% of the total epithelial fraction. The SP transcriptome was essentially the same as ABCG2+ and both populations expressed genes indicative of a stem cell phenotype,
however, the cells also expressed many genes in common with endothelial cells.
Conclusion: These results provide gene expression profiles for the prostate SP and ABCG2+ cells that will be critical for studying normal development and carcinogenesis, in particular as related to
the cancer stem cell concept.