Tissue-Specific Stem Cells

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Dicer Ablation Impairs Prostate Stem Cell Activity and Causes Prostate Atrophy†‡§

  1. Li Zhang1,
  2. Boyu Zhang1,
  3. Joseph M. Valdez1,
  4. Fen Wang2,
  5. Michael Ittmann1,
  6. Li Xin1,¶,*

Article first published online: 1 JUN 2010

DOI: 10.1002/stem.455

Issue

STEM CELLS

STEM CELLS

Volume 28, Issue 7, pages 1260–1269, July 2010

Additional Information

How to Cite

Zhang, L., Zhang, B., Valdez, J. M., Wang, F., Ittmann, M. and Xin, L. (2010), Dicer Ablation Impairs Prostate Stem Cell Activity and Causes Prostate Atrophy. STEM CELLS, 28: 1260–1269. doi: 10.1002/stem.455

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of MedicineHouston, TX 77030 USA

  2. 2

    Texas A&M Health Science Center, Houston, TX 77030 USA

  1. Telephone: 713-798-1650, Fax: 713-798-3017

*Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, Texas 77030, USA

  1. †

    Author contribution: L. Z.: Conception and design, collection and/or assembly of data, data analysis and interpretation; B. Z.: collection and/or assembly of data, data analysis and interpretation; J. M V.: manuscript writing; F. W.: Provision of study material; M. I.: data analysis and interpretation; L. X.: Conception and design, manuscript writing, collection and/or assembly of data, data analysis and interpretation, final approval of manuscript.

  2. ‡

    First published online in STEM CELLSEXPRESS June 1, 2010.

  3. §

    Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 20 JUL 2010
  2. Article first published online: 1 JUN 2010
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 21 MAY 2010
  4. Manuscript Received: 18 APR 2010

Funded by

  • Baylor College of Medicine. Grant Number: NIH K99CA125937

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Keywords:

  • Dicer;
  • MicroRNAs;
  • Prostate stem cells;
  • Prostate spheres

Abstract

Dicer is an RNase III enzyme essential for microRNA maturation. Dicer ablation in diverse tissues has been shown to block tissue differentiation, induce cell apoptosis, impair specialized cellular function, and perturb organ structures. To gain insight into the role of microRNAs in prostate tissue function and homeostasis, we conditionally disrupted Dicer activity in the mouse prostate using an ARR2PB-Cre. We demonstrated that Dicer activity is disrupted in both prostatic basal/stem cells and differentiated luminal cells. Dicer knockout murine prostates are smaller in size and mass and develop epithelial hypotrophy in ventral prostates by 4 months. Dicer ablation induces increased apoptosis in the prostate, predominantly in the differentiated luminal cells. Paradoxically, a concurrent increase in proliferation is observed in both basal/stem cells and luminal cells, presumably due to compensatory growth of the cells devoid of homologous recombination in response to the elevated cellular apoptosis. We have previously shown that Lin(CD31CD45Ter119)−Sca-1+CD49fhigh (LSC) cells enrich for prostate stem cell activity. Through proliferation and differentiation, some LSC cells are capable of forming prostate spheres composed of cells at various stages of differentiation. Although LSC cells were expanded by threefold in Dicer knockout mice, the sphere-forming units of Dicer knockout prostate cells decreased by more than half compared with wild-type cells. In addition, most prostate spheres in the Dicer knockout culture were derived from cells that did not undergo homologous recombination. Our results demonstrate a critical role of microRNAs for the proliferative capacity of prostate stem cells and the maintenance of prostate homeostasis. STEM CELLS 2010;28:1260–1269

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