近日，中国海军医科大学教授任善成及其研究团队揭示了成人前列腺的空间分辨转录组学分析。2025年4月1日出版的《自然—遗传学》发表了这项成果。

为了更好地了解其复杂的结构和细胞组成，该研究组构建了一个全面的成人前列腺单细胞图谱。他们的高分辨率图谱工作确定了从11名接受膀胱癌根治性切除术的患者中取样的253,381个单细胞和34,876个细胞核，这些细胞被分为126个独特的亚群。这项工作揭示了人类前列腺中多种新的细胞类型及其特定的空间定位。值得注意的是，该研究组发现了它们独特的腺泡，其中两个与E- 26转录因子家族（ETS）密切相关，即离子阴性前列腺癌。

通过整合空间、单细胞和批量测序分析，研究组提出两种特定的腔细胞类型可能是前列腺癌的共同起源。此外，他们的研究结果表明，区特异性成纤维细胞可能有助于观察到腔细胞之间的异质性。该图谱将为研究前列腺生物学和前列腺癌等疾病提供有价值的参考。

研究人员表示，前列腺是一个具有显著空间异质性的器官。

附：英文原文

Title: Spatially resolved transcriptomic analysis of the adult human prostate

Author: Hu, Junyi, Liu, Fei, Zhang, Jing, Yin, Lei, Cao, Wanli, Xu, Weidong, Chang, Yifan, Wang, Ye, Wang, Jian, Hou, Yaxin, Liu, Lilong, Chen, Sujun, Zhu, Guanghui, Jiang, Junhui, Wang, Zixian, Wei, Gong-Hong, He, Housheng Hansen, Gu, Di, Chen, Ke, Ren, Shancheng

Issue&Volume: 2025-04-01

Abstract: The prostate is an organ characterized by significant spatial heterogeneity. To better understand its intricate structure and cellular composition, we constructed a comprehensive single-cell atlas of the adult human prostate. Our high-resolution mapping effort identified 253,381 single cells and 34,876 nuclei sampled from 11 patients who underwent radical resection of bladder cancer, which were categorized into 126 unique subpopulations. This work revealed various new cell types in the human prostate and their specific spatial localization. Notably, we discovered four distinct acini, two of which were tightly associated with E-twenty-six transcription factor family (ETS)-fusion-negative prostate cancer. Through the integration of spatial, single-cell and bulk-seq analyses, we propose that two specific luminal cell types could serve as the common origins of prostate cancer. Additionally, our findings suggest that zone-specific fibroblasts may contribute to the observed heterogeneity among luminal cells. This atlas will serve as a valuable reference for studying prostate biology and diseases such as prostate cancer.

DOI: 10.1038/s41588-025-02139-9

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-025-02139-9