Dm. Peehl et Js. Rubin, KERATINOCYTE GROWTH-FACTOR - AN ANDROGEN-REGULATED MEDIATOR OF STROMAL EPITHELIAL INTERACTIONS IN THE PROSTATE, World journal of urology, 13(5), 1995, pp. 312-317
Members of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family are important gro
wth-regulatory elements. Of the FGFs, keratinocyte growth factor (KGF)
appears to have unique properties that implicate it as a paracrine fa
ctor in the prostate. Two KGF transcripts (approximate to 2.4 and 5.0
kb) encode a protein of approximate to 22 kDa. In contrast to several
other members of the FGF family, KGF has a signal peptide and is activ
ely secreted. Cellular response to KGF is mediated by a specific recep
tor that is transcribed from an alternately spliced variant of the FGF
type 2 receptor (FGFR-2). KGF transcripts have been detected in prost
atic tissues and in stromal cells cultured from rat and human prostate
s as well as in a variety of stromal cells derived from other organs.
Prostatic epithelial cells and numerous other types of epithelial cell
s are targets of KGF's mitogenic activity. Several factors involved in
wound healing regulate the expression of KGF, but androgen regulation
of KGF is of greatest relevance to the role of KGF in the prostate. C
urrent efforts to localize and manipulate KGF activity in vivo should
reveal the significance of KGF expression and function in the prostate
and in other organs.