Differential gene expression of transforming growth factors alpha and beta, epidermal growth factor, keratinocyte growth factor and their receptors in fetal and adult human prostatic tissues and cancer cell lines

Recent studies have shown that growth factors may play a role in the etiology of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostatic carcinoma. Several growth factors have been reported to be expressed by prostatic tissues, but these growth factors have never been examined in human fetal prostate and compared with adult prostates and cancer cell lines. The present study was designed to investigate the messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression of transforming growth factor (TGF)-alpha, TGF-beta1, TGF-beta2, TGFbeta3, keratinocyte growth factor (KGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF), EGF receptor (EGF-R), and KGF receptor (KGF-R) in human fetal and adult prostatic tissues and cancer cell lines by reverse-transcriptasepolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using specific oligonucleotide primers. Total RNA was extracted from human fetal and adult prostates (BPH tissues) and cancer cell lines. The gene expression of these growth factors and their receptors was determined by RT-PCR using specific oligonucleotide primers. These results suggest that the differential gene expression for various growth factors and their receptors in human fetal and adult prostatic tissues and cancer cell lines may be important in understanding the role of these factors in the pathophysiology of prostatic diseases.