Expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor in fetal kidney.

Formation of the human kidney begins at the 6th week of fetal life when the first generations of nephrons are generated from foci of metanephric mesenchyme through contact with the branches of the ureteric bud. This process requires a proliferative burst which must be tightly regulated by local signals. In this report, we review the evidence that the epidermal growth factor receptor molecule is an important arbiter of these events.