Single-cell atlas of epithelial and stromal cell heterogeneity by lobe and strain in the mouse prostate

Abstract

Evaluating the complex interplay of cell types in the tissue microenvironment is critical to understanding the origin and progression of diseases in the prostate and potential opportunities for intervention. Mouse models are an essential tool to investigate the molecular and cell-type-specific contributions of prostate disease at an organismal level. While there are well-documented differences in the extent, timing, and nature of disease development in various genetically engineered mouse models in different mouse strains and prostate lobes within each mouse strain, yet, the underlying molecular phenotypic differences in cell types across mouse strains and prostate lobes are incompletely understood. To address this, we examined the single-cell transcriptomes of individual mouse prostate lobes from two commonly used mouse strains, FVB/NJ and C57BL/6J. Data dimensionality reduction and clustering analysis revealed that basal and luminal cells possessed strain-specific transcriptomic differences, with luminal cells also displaying marked lobe-specific differences. Additionally, three rare populations of epithelial cells clustered independently of strain and lobe: one population of luminal cells expressing Foxi1 and components of the vacuolar ATPase proton pump (Atp6v0d2 and Atp6v1g3), another population expressing Psca and other stem cell-associated genes (Ly6a/Sca-1, Tacstd2/Trop-2), and a neuroendocrine population expressing Chga, Chgb, and Syp. In contrast, stromal cell clusters, including fibroblasts, smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, pericytes, and immune cell types, were conserved across strain and lobe, clustering largely by cell type and not by strain or lobe. One notable exception to this was the identification of two distinct fibroblast populations that we term subglandular fibroblasts and interstitial fibroblasts based on their strikingly distinct spatial distribution in the mouse prostate. Altogether, these data provide a practical reference of the transcriptional profiles of mouse prostate from two commonly used mouse strains and across all four prostate lobes.