Differentiation of a highly tumorigenic basal cell compartment in urothelial carcinoma.

ABSTRACT: Highly tumorigenic cancer cell (HTC) populations have been identified for a variety of solid tumors and assigned stem cell properties. Strategies for identifying HTCs in solid tumors have been primarily empirical rather than rational, particularly in epithelial tumors, which are responsible for 80% of cancer deaths. We report evidence for a spatially restricted bladder epithelial (urothelial) differentiation program in primary urothelial cancers (UCs) and in UC xenografts. We identified a highly tumorigenic UC cell compartment that resembles benign urothelial stem cells (basal cells), co-expresses the 67-kDa laminin receptor and the basal cell-specific cytokeratin CK17, and lacks the carcinoembryonic antigen family member CEACAM6 (CD66c). This multipotent compartment resides at the tumor-s

SUBMITTER: He X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3060766 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature