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Prostate cancer

New answers prompt new questions regarding cell of origin

Nature Reviews Urology volume 7, pages 650–652 (2010)Cite this article

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Controversies remain regarding the precise cell type from which prostate cancers originate. In the last 2 years, two separate studies have arrived at apparently conflicting models for the cell type involved in prostate cancer initiation. However, these results are not mutually exclusive: there are potential solutions, and alternative views on the initiating cell derivation of prostate tumors also exist.

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Figure 1: Phenotype of prostatic epithelial cells.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Donald S. Coffey, Alan K. Meeker, Michael Haffner and members of the De Marzo lab from Johns Hopkins for their helpful comments and discussions regarding this work. A. M. De Marzo is supported in part by the Patrick C. Walsh Prostate Cancer Research Fund as the Peter J. Sharp Foundation Scholar.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Brady Urological Research Institute and The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, 21231, MD, USA

    Angelo M. De Marzo, William G. Nelson & Srinivasan Yegnasubramanian

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, 21250, MD, USA

    Charles J. Bieberich

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  1. Angelo M. De Marzo
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  2. William G. Nelson
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  3. Charles J. Bieberich
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  4. Srinivasan Yegnasubramanian
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Correspondence to Angelo M. De Marzo.

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Competing interests

W. G. Nelson declares a patent (#5552277) regarding diagnosis of prostate cancer via GSTP1. The other authors declare no competing interests.

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De Marzo, A., Nelson, W., Bieberich, C. et al. New answers prompt new questions regarding cell of origin. Nat Rev Urol 7, 650–652 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrurol.2010.188

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