• Identified a novel population of human intermediate prostate cancer stem cells (CriPCSCs) that express both luminal and basal markers and exhibit stem cell properties.
• Developed a customized culture medium enabling long-term expansion of primary intermediate prostate cells without genetic modification.
• Demonstrated that CriPCSCs are highly tumorigenic in vivo, forming tumors in immunodeficient mice within one month, and resist castration by upregulating AR and proliferation markers.
• Established a patient primary cell-derived xenograft (PrDX) model that faithfully recapitulates human prostate adenocarcinoma, providing a valuable tool for studying prostate cancer initiation and therapy resistance.