Growth Factors in the Prostate

Abstract

Certain local tissue factors, such as growth factor, in addition to androgens, are involved in the prostate growth. The prostate contains two types of growth factors capable of stimulating DNA synthesis in BALB/3T3 cells. They were divided into low affinity (LoA) type and high affinity (HiA) type by a different affinity for heparin-Sepharose. HiA-type growth factor is further classified into acidic HiA and basic HiA types. Acidic HiA type could be purified from the Dunning tumor (R 3327), a rat prostatic adenocarcinoma, and has a molecular weight of about 19,000 and a pI of about 3.8. Basic HiA type could be isolated from the tissues of human benign prostatic hypertrophy and has a molecular weight of about 12,000 and a pI of about 10.5. They are inactivated by heat and acid treatments. Acidic HiA type appears to be involved in growth of the rat prostate epithelium, and LoA type growth factor is possibly relevant to reproductive physiology because of its coexistence with "probasin," a major secretory protein in the dorsolateral prostate having a strong affinity for spermatozoa.

Characterization of the role of IL-6 in the progression of prostate cancer

“…Moreover, the physiologic importance of IL-6 relative to other growth factors implicated in modulation of normal and neoplastic prostate cell growth (epidermal growth factor, transforming growth factor-␤ and fibroblast growth factor [35], heparin-binding growth factors [36][37][38], amphiregulin [39], and GM-CSF [22]) merits closer investigation. Equally if not more important are the potential contributions of the stroma and other paracrine or endocrine factors.…”

Effect of Prolactin on the Population of Epithelial Cells From Ventral Prostate of Intact and Cyproterone Acetate‐Treated Peripubertal Rats: Stereological and Immunohistochemical Study

“…However, when the androgen concentration levels off at the ninth week, the glandular growth still continues until week 25 (Matuo et al, 1987). It seems more interesting to study these interactions in peripubertal rats than in adults, because the prostate of the adult rat does not respond to the administration of exogenic testosterone with any increase of DNA (Berry and Isaacs, 1984), due to the homeostatic equilibrium reached in the adult stage without net glandular growth-balance between cell proliferation and apoptosis (Isaacs, 1984a).…”

Analysis of cell death and cell proliferation in embryonic stages, normal adult, and aging prostates in human and animals

“…Castration of neonatal mice and rats inhibits growth of the prostate but not completely, and androgen replacement to castrated juvenile rats is unable to completely restore normal prostate development. In addition, serum androgen levels initially closely parallel rat prostate growth curves until approximately 8 weeks of age, at which time serum androgens precipitously decline yet the rat prostate gland continues to grow until approximately 25 weeks of age (Matuo et al, 1987). These results strongly suggest that androgens are not the sole factor regulating rodent prostate growth postnatally (Chung and Ferland-Raymond, 1975;Chung and McFadden, 1980).…”