Studies of Prostate Tumor Development via Cre/LoxP Technology
Abstract
The purposes of this research are to investigate cell lineages in the prostate gland of the mouse and to identify the cellular origin of prostate adenocarcinomas. The prostate epithelium contains, among others, luminal and basal cells. It is believed, but not proven, that a subpopulation of the basal cells may be stem cells (1) and that basal cells differentiate into luminal cells (2, 3). On the other hand, prostate cancer cells have characteristics of luminal cells (4). This project aims to use Cre/loxP technology (Sauer, 1998) to develop mice in which different prostate cell subpopulations are permanently labeled. Hereto, mice have been generated that express, constitutively or upon tamoxifen treatment, Cre recombinase under the control of keratin 5 (K5) or K14 promoters (active in basal cells (6)) or the probasin (PB) promoter (active in luminal cells of adult male mice (6). These mice have been crossed with ROSA26 mice (7), which harbor a universal promoter driving a Beta-galactosidase (13-gal) reporter gene preceded by a floxed stop sequence. In the resulting litter, Cre-mediated recombination is expected to remove the stop sequence and lead to permanent labeling of a cell subpopulation with 13-gal.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA435229
Entities
People
- Claudio J. Conti
Organizations
- University of Texas at Austin