In vitro human cell culture models for the study of prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy in the American m en and the second leading cause of male cancer death in the United States. Despite its high incidence, the molecular and genetic events involved in pr ostate cancer progression remain poorly understood. A hurdle in understandi ng the molecular genetic changes in prostate cancer has been the difficulty in establishing premalignant lesions and primary prostate tumors as in vit ro cell cultures. Primary epithelial cells grow for a finite life span and then senesce. Immortalization is defined by continuous growth of otherwise senescing cells and is believed to represent an early stage in tumor progre ssion. In order to examine these early stages, we and others have developed in vitro models of prostate epithelial cell immortalization. Because prost ate cancer is a multistep, progressive disease with a typical onset later i n life and with an unusually high number of latent cases that do not develo p into clinically manifest cancer, the steps in the progression to malignan cy are of particular interest. To understand the many factors that are susp ected to contribute to the development of this malignancy, there is a need for an in vitro multistep human prostate epithelial (HPE) culture system. T hese models have been extremely important in identifying genetic and molecu lar changes involved in prostate cancer progression.