Stem Cells and Prostate Cancer

Recent evidence demonstrates that normal prostate tissue contains stem cells.  There is also accumulating evidence that prostate cancer contains a population of cells with stem cell-like characteristics referred to as cancer stem cells, or tumor initiating cells.  Both the normal prostate stem cell and cancer stem cell populations have important implications for the generation, therapeutic targeting, and prevention of prostate cancer.  This book will explore the role of stem cells in normal prostate development and prostate cancer, methods for isolation and characterization of normal prostate stem cells and prostate tumor initiating cells, the functional relationship between normal stem cells and prostate tumor initiating cells, the relationship of prostate cancer genetics and self-renewal and differentiation, the prostate stem cell as a target for therapeutics and prevention, and the utility of stem cells for prostate cancer models.  This book synthesizes these concepts and more into a single volume accessible to basic and translational researchers in prostate cancer and beyond.