[Evaluation of intercellular communication of human prostatic epithelium]

Intercellular communication (IC) among epithelial and/or interstitial cells of human prostate was evaluated. IC was measured by the dye transfer method. In brief, fluorescent lucifer yellow CH was microinjected into an individual cell and communication was measured by scoring the number of surrounding fluorescent cells. Cells used here were outgrowth cells from small tips of tissues of various prostatic diseases and established prostatic carcinoma cell line PC-3. To identify the epithelial cells, keratin staining was done. In prostatitis and benign prostatic hyperplasia, epithelial cells grew in five of six cases cultured and extent of maximum IC was from 18 to 46 cells (mean = 26 cells) at 4 to 6 culture days. Three specimens of separate cases cultured for more than one month had a maximum IC of more than 100 cells. In prostatic carcinoma, epithelial cells grew in 7 of 10 cases cultured and extent of maximum IC was from 6 to 38 cells (mean = 18 cells) at 3 to 6 days. The extent of IC among prostatic carcinoma cells was lower than that of benign prostatic diseases, though not significantly, this indicates the possibility that benign cells were present among the malignant cells in the specimens examined above. Prostatic carcinoma cells cultured from metastatic lesions of bone (PC-3) and lymph nodes had maximum IC of 3 to 5 cells. IC was very limited or absent between benign prostatic epithelium and PC-3 cells. No IC was present between prostatic epithelial and interstitial cells. Interstitial cells prepared from prostatic benign and malignant diseases similarly revealed a high extent of IC.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)