Characterization of prostate cell types by CD cell surface molecules

Abstract

A set of monoclonal antibodies raised against lymphocyte cell surface molecules, the cluster designation (CD) antigens, was used to distinguish the constituent cell types of the prostate. The luminal secretory epithelial, basal epithelial, fibromuscular stromal, nerve sheath, and endothelial cells express distinctive complements of cell surface molecules that were identified by immunohistochemistry using 152 commercially available antibodies. Many of the CD antibodies stained lymphocyte populations in the prostate. These lymphocyte populations were grouped into abundance classes of rare, moderate, and high. Some of these molecules are expressed by multiple cell types, both parenchymal and lymphoid; others are expressed by only one cell type. Distinctive patterns of CD expression, which are most similar to the expression pattern of prostate luminal cells, also characterize a small series of Gleason score 6 prostate cancers. The cell-type specificity of CD molecules increases the prospect of isolating specific cell populations, using such techniques as laser capture microdissection and flow cytometry, for cell-specific molecular studies.

Figure 1.

Prostate cell-type specificity of CD molecules. Reactivity is indicated by colored boxes. Lighter hues of the parenchymal cell markers indicate faint or equivocal staining. The color code for respective cell types (intense vs. faint) is: red/rose for luminal epithelial cells, blue/turquoise for basal epithelial cells, gold/yellow for fibromuscular stromal cells, lavender for endothelial cells, and lime/light green for nerve sheath cells. Perineural cells only stained intensely when stained (bright green). The lymphocyte gray scale indicates lymphocyte abundance; the darkest shade designates the most abundant CD types. Low abundance (the two lightest shades of gray) is defined as <10 lymphocytes, moderate abundance as 10 to 100 lymphocytes, and high abundance as >100 lymphocytes per 40X field of magnification, respectively.

Figure 2.

CD immunoreactivity of prostate cells (immunoreaction product red-brown; pale blue hematoxylin nuclear counterstain) in benign prostate (a–d). a: CD4 (T helper/inducer cells); focus of abundant CD4⁺ lymphocytes between benign glands. b: CD8 (T cytotoxic/suppressor cells). Low abundance CD8⁺ lymphocytes within the glandular epithelium. c, d: Fibromuscular stromal cells uniformly express CD49a (c) and CD56 (d). Glandular epithelial cells lack CD49a and CD56 immunoreactivity. Edematous stroma separates CD56⁺ fibromuscular stromal cells in d.

Figure 3.

CD immunoreactivity of cells (immunoreaction product red-brown; pale blue hematoxylin nuclear counterstain) in prostate cancer (a–d). a: Luminal epithelial cells express CD13 and prostate carcinoma cells between benign glands lack immunoreactive CD13. b: Both prostate cancer cells and luminal cells of a benign gland that exhibits epithelial hyperplasia express CD26. c: The luminal secretory cells and endothelial cells express CD26. d: Cancer cells fail to express CD104, which is a basal cell marker.