Growth factors as mediators of androgen action during male urogenital development

✍ Scribed by Cunha, Gerald R.

• Book ID: 101225830
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 391 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0270-4137
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0045(1996)6+<22::aid-pros5>3.0.co;2-m

✦ Synopsis

Studies on the developing prostate and seminal vesicle suggest that androgens act via mesenchymal androgen receptors to elicit synthesis and secretion of keratinocyte growth factor and probably other paracrine factors that regulate epithelial growth and morphogenesis. Clearly, the overall regulation of prostatic epithelial growth and ductal branching morphogenesis is complex and multifactorial, involving the interaction of both positive and negative regulators, extracellular matrix, cell surface receptors for growth fac- tors, and vascularization. Future progress in our understanding of normal and abnormal prostatic growth will certainly be dependent upon the utilization of appropriate, biologically relevant models to examine the respective roles of these complex developmental processes.