KGF and EGF differentially regulate the phenotype of prostatic epithelial cells.

Previous studies indicate that keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) acts as a paracrine factor in the prostatic epithelium and epidermal growth factor (EGF) acts as an autocrine factor. In serum-free medium, KGF or EGF promoted similar growth of human prostatic epithelial cells. Response to two growth-inhibitory factors (suramin and transforming growth factor-beta), and expression of keratins and prostate-specific antigen (PSA), were similar with either mitogen. However, colonies in medium with KGF were very compact with extensive intercellular bonds, whereas colonies with EGF consisted of widely-separated cells. Growth was decreased to a greater extent by deletion of growth factors from medium with KGF versus EGF, and retinoic acid was 10-fold more potent at inducing growth inhibition and differentiation-associated keratin with KGF compared with EGF. We conclude that regulation of growth and differentiation in the prostate might vary depending on the availability of KGF versus EGF.