Effect of prostatic stromal cells from varying ages on the growth of prostate epithelial cells

Abstract

Objective To explore the influences of human prostatic stromal cells cultured from prostatic peripheral zone of young donors (PZ-young) and old donors (PZ-old) on prostate epithelial cells.Methods We established primary prostatic stromal cell cultures from prostatic peripheral zone of young donors (20-30 years old ) and old donors (55-80 years old),and co-cultured these stromal cells with prostate epithelial cells (immortalized non-tumorigenic BPH-1 cells and tumorigenic invasive PC-3 cells) in two-chamber coculture system.The proliferation,motility and invasive ability of these epithelial cells were assessed.We also co-transplanted stromal cells with BPH-1 ( or PC-3 ) cells subcutaneously into nude mice to compare their influence on epithelial tumor growth.Results As compared with the PZ-young group,both BPH-1 or PC-3 cells grew faster when cocultured with PZ-old cells in vitro ( P ＜0.01 ).Stromal cells from PZ-old markedly triggcred the migration of both PC-3 and high passage BPH-1 cells ( ＞ 100 passage),and promoted the invasion of PC-3 cells in vitro (P ＜0.05 ).Using in vivo tissue recombination model,we also found the PZ-old stromal cells reduced “tumor” latency by BPH-1 cells and promoted the tumor progression by PC-3 cells significantly compared to PZ-young cells ( P ＜ 0.01 ).Conclusion The PZ-old prostate stromal cells could stimulate the proliferation,migration and invasion of PC-3 and BPH-1 cells in vitro and enhance their malignant progression in vivo. Key words: Prostate; Peripheral zone; Stromal cell; Coculture; Age