Bladder cancers arise from distinct urothelial sub-populations

J Van Batavia, T Yamany, A Molotkov, H Dan… - Nature cell …, 2014 - nature.com
J Van Batavia, T Yamany, A Molotkov, H Dan, M Mansukhani, E Batourina, K Schneider…
Nature cell biology, 2014nature.com
Bladder cancer is the sixth most common cancer in humans. This heterogeneous set of
lesions including urothelial carcinoma (Uca) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) arise from
the urothelium, a stratified epithelium composed of K5-expressing basal cells, intermediate
cells and umbrella cells. Superficial Uca lesions are morphologically distinct and exhibit
different clinical behaviours: carcinoma in situ (CIS) is a flat aggressive lesion, whereas
papillary carcinomas are generally low-grade and non-invasive. Whether these distinct …
Abstract
Bladder cancer is the sixth most common cancer in humans. This heterogeneous set of lesions including urothelial carcinoma (Uca) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) arise from the urothelium, a stratified epithelium composed of K5-expressing basal cells, intermediate cells and umbrella cells. Superficial Uca lesions are morphologically distinct and exhibit different clinical behaviours: carcinoma in situ (CIS) is a flat aggressive lesion, whereas papillary carcinomas are generally low-grade and non-invasive. Whether these distinct characteristics reflect different cell types of origin is unknown. Here we show using lineage tracing in a murine model of carcinogenesis that intermediate cells give rise primarily to papillary lesions, whereas K5-basal cells are likely progenitors of CIS, muscle-invasive lesions and SCC depending on the genetic background. Our results provide a cellular and genetic basis for the diversity in bladder cancer lesions and provide a possible explanation for their clinical and morphological differences.
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