Here’s an exciting animal experiment. Scientists found an adult prostate stem cell in mice and one cell grew an entire new prostate gland. From the story.
Here we identify CD117 (c-kit, stem cell factor receptor) as a new marker of a rare adult mouse PSC population, and demonstrate that a single stem cell defined by the phenotype Lin-Sca-1+CD133+CD44+CD117+ can generate a prostate after transplantation in vivo. CD117 expression is predominantly localized to the region of the mouse prostate proximal to the urethra and is upregulated after castration-induced prostate involution—two characteristics consistent with that of a PSC marker. CD117+ PSCs can generate functional, secretion-producing prostates when transplanted in vivo.It’s a very long way from human application, obviously, but another example of the need for animal research and the potency of non controversial biotechnology.
