GROWTH-FACTORS IN UROLOGIC TISSUES - DETECTION, CHARACTERIZATION, ANDCLINICAL-APPLICATIONS

During the last two decades, enormous strides have been made in unders tanding cellular and molecular biology. The direction of treatment of many neoplasms and other diseases are starting at the microscopic leve l. Growth factors are polypeptides that play a part in the development and maintenance of living tissues. We, as well as others, have invest igated the role that growth factors play particularly in urologic tiss ues, both benign and malignant. We review several well-known growth fa ctors and their function in prostate, kidney, and bladder tissues, as well as their functions in other regulating processes of the human bod y, and also the use of growth factors as tumor markers, and antibodies to growth factors as possible treatment of disease.