GSE111429
Identification of Zeb1 as a single marker for prostate stem cells in the basal cell compartment
The prostate basal cell compartment is postulated to contain stem/progenitors due to its resistance to castration, capability to differentiation into basal, luminal and neuroendocrine cell lineages of prostate epithelium, and susceptibility to oncogenic transformation. However, the heterogeneity and the interrelationship among different cell subpopulations within prostate basal cells remain largely unknow. Here we find that the core epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) inducer Zeb is exclusively expressed in a prostate basal cell subpopulation. The Zeb1+ basal cells are resistant against androgen deprivation, possess greater efficiency to produce prostate spheroids in vitro, undergo self-renewal, and can generate functional prostate with all three cell lineages in vivo at the single cell level. Utilizing unbiased single cell transcriptomic analysis of over 9000 mouse prostate basal cells, we find that Zeb1+ basal cell subset shares gene expression profile with both epithelial and mesenchymal cells and stands out uniquely among all the cell clusters. Pseudotemporal reconstruction revealed three cell lineage trajectories through which the Zeb1+ basal cell subset gives rise to differentiated basal cells, and androgen dependent or independent intermediate cells. at the starting point in the developmental trajectories of cell clusters in prostate basal epithelium. In addition, Zeb1 positive basal cells can be detected in human prostate samples. Our data demonstrate that these Zeb1+ cells are bona fide PSCs in the basal cell compartment. Identification of the prostate stem cell (PSC) and its differentiation path is crucial to advance our understanding of prostate development and tumorigenesis. Overall design: Exploration of transcriptional differences and interations among different subpopulations within prostate basal cells