Multivariate analyses in the 414 patient cohort.

<p>*HR: Hazard Ratio;</p><p>**CI: Confidence Interval;</p><p>***<i>P</i>-value determined by Cox proportional hazards model.</p

DSG2 expression in human metastatic prostate cancer cell lines.

<p>(A) DSG2 expression is detected in all cell lines examined, including the normal immortalized prostate cell line BPH-1. Data is represented as mean ± SD. **P<0.01; *** P<0.001. (<b>B–E</b>) DSG2 is expressed at the cell border of LNCaP and DU145 cells; however, cell border expression is not detected in PC3 cells with only some cells showing faint, punctate, and diffuse staining (insert magnification; shown at 2.5X). Original magnification: 200X. Scale bars correspond to 100 µm.</p

Correlation between DSG2 and clinico-pathological characteristics.

<p>*Spearman's rho correlation is significant at P<0.05 level and **P<0.01 level (2-tailed).</p

Primer sequences for generation and characterization of <i>TgUICBAC</i> mice.

<p>Primer sequences for generation and characterization of <i>TgUICBAC</i> mice.</p

Desmoglein expression in normal human prostate.

<p>(A) Clear expression of mRNA can be detected for most desmogleins, with the exception of <i>DSG1</i> which shows only faint expression. (<b>B–C</b>) Representative immunofluorescence analyses of DSG2 (B) and DSG4 (C) at the cell border of normal human prostatic glandular epithelium. Original magnification: 200X. Scale bars correspond to 100 µm.</p

Low expression of DSG2 is a poor prognosis biomarker for patients with prostatic carcinoma.

<p>(A–L) Representative immunofluorescence analysis of DSG2 and CK8/18 in prostate cancer. (<b>D, E–H</b>) TMAs showing high DSG2 expression in the cell border of well differentiated areas of the tumor (panel D, inside yellow dashed line). (<b>D, I–L</b>) TMAs showing low DSG2 expression in poorly differentiated areas of the tumor (panel D, shown in the remainder of the tumor outside of the yellow dashed line). Original magnification: 200X. Scale bars correspond to 100 µm. (<b>M</b>) Patients expressing higher levels of DSG2 had a significantly longer recurrence free survival than those expressing lower levels of DSG2 (<i>P</i> = 0.01).</p

Expression of DSG2 in prostate cancer as compared to normal prostate.

<p>*<i>P</i>-value determined using Student's T-test.</p

iCreERT2 expression in <i>TgUICBAC</i> mice.

<p>Total RNA from various organs of male (M) and female (F) mice were extracted, and subjected to RT-PCR analysis of iCreERT2 expression. Note that iCreERT2 expression is observed only in kidney (renal pelvis), ureter and bladder, revealing that it is specific of organs coated with urothelium. Mouse Gapdh served as a control.</p

Tissue-specific activity of iCReERT2 in vivo.

<p>Eight week old <i>TgUICBAC;Rosa26</i> mice were treated as in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0035243#pone-0035243-g003" target="_blank">Figure 3</a>, sections of other organs were obtained and X-gal staining was performed. Note that X-gal blue staining is observed only in the epithelial cells of the renal pelvis, ureter (indicated with arrows) in mice injected with TAM, whereas no staining is observed in control mice or other organs of TAM-injected mice. Bars correspond to 100 µm.</p

DSG2 and DSG4 are specifically localized in the luminal cells of the normal prostate gland.

<p>(A–C) DSG2 is expressed in the luminal cells of the prostatic glands and this expression rarely co-localizes with basal cell CK14 expression. (<b>D–F</b>) DSG2 co-localizes with PSA expression in the luminal compartment of the gland. (<b>G–I</b>) DSG4 is also expressed in the luminal cells and rarely co-localizes with basal cell CK14 expression. (<b>J–L</b>) DSG4 expression co-localizes with luminal cell PSA expression. (<b>M–O</b>) The expression of DSG4 also shows almost complete co-localization with that of DSG2 in the luminal cells. Original magnification: 200X. Scale bars correspond to 100 µm.</p