Growth factors as mediators of androgen action during male urogenital development

Studies on the developing prostate and seminal vesicle suggests 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 factors, 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 process.