The surface character of separated prostatic cells and cultured fibroblasts of prostatic tissue as determined by concanavalin-A hemadsorption.

Con-A-coated human type O red blood cells (indicator RBC) were used for ConA reactivity assay of separated epithelial cells and cultured fibroblasts of human prostatic tissue. The epithelial cells of carcinoma showed higher reactivity than those of normal tissue or hyperplastic tissue. Although both cultured fibroblasts of PC and BPH are considered to be non-malignant, it is clearly demonstrated that the PC fibroblasts have a malignant surface character in terms of ConA reactivity, whereas the BPH fibroblasts have a quite low ConA reactivity. ConA-mediated HAD appeared to be a useful tool to distinguish malignant epithelial cells of human prostate from non-malignant ones. It still remains unknown whether the alteration of PC fibroblasts is the cause or the result of carcinogenic transformation of prostatic tissue.