Lineage analysis of basal epithelial cells reveals their unexpected plasticity and supports a cell of origin model for prostate cancer heterogeneity

We used RNA-seq to compare the expression profiles of mouse prostate tumors originated from epithelial basal cells to those originated from luminal cells. We next generated expression signatures for both basal and luminal origin tumors by comparison of tumor samples to their respective controls. By comparing luminal to basal signatures we identified a prognostic molecular signature for prostate cancer patient survival. Pten was deleted in prostate basal or luminal cells to induce tumor formation and tumor expression profiles were analyzed by RNA-seq.