Castration resistant luminal progenitor cells, the new stars of the prostate epithelium

Summary :

Benign prostate hyperplasia and prostate cancer are frequent diseases of the aging man. In both cases, targeting androgen signaling is the gold-standard treatment. After initial improvement of clinical symptoms, disease progression is frequently observed. The cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying resistance to treatment are poorly understood.
Our lab recently discovered and isolated from mouse prostates a population of luminal progenitor cells that amplify during prostate tumorigenesis. These cells survive castration, exhibit stem-like properties and generate tumors when engrafted into castrated host mice. Cognate cells have been recently identified in the human prostate by single cell RNA-Seq, and evidence supporting their contribution to prostate diseases is emerging.
In this presentation, I will overview the current knowledge on prostatic luminal progenitors including our current research aimed to characterize their phenotypic and functional heterogeneity, a pre-requisite to therapeutic targeting.