Gene expression profiling of basal and luminal epithelial cells from young adult and old mouse prostates

We set out to determine if prostate epithelial cell-types exhibited age-related differences in their gene expression profiles. We used fluorescence activated cell sorting to isolate basal and luminal cells from dissociated preparations of prostate tissue taken from young adult (3 months) and old (24 months of age) mice. RNA was extracted from sorted cells to evaluate differences in gene expression. We found significant enrichment for progenitor genes in old luminal cells including an immune/inflammatory profile that overlapped with a previously identified CD38-lo human prostate luminal progenitor signature. This study demonstrates a luminal progenitor signature in old mouse prostate. RNA sequencing of basal and luminal cells isolated from 3 month and 24 month old mouse prostates. Experiments were performed using biological triplicates, with each replicate pooled from 2 mice of the same age. Sequencing was performed on Illumina HiSeq 3000.