Characterization of growth factors derived from the rat ventral prostate

• Published in: The Journal of urology Vol. 139; no. 5; p. 1106
• Main Authors: Jacobs, S C, Story, M T, Sasse, J, Lawson, R K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-05-1988
• Subjects: Animals; Chromatography, Affinity; Chromatography, Gel; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; Epidermal Growth Factor - isolation & purification; Fibroblast Growth Factors - isolation & purification; Male; Prostate - analysis; Radioimmunoassay; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains
• ISSN: 0022-5347
• DOI: 10.1016/S0022-5347(17)42797-2

Tissue homogenates of rat ventral prostate were examined for growth factor activity using a fibroblast mitogenesis assay. G-75 Sephadex gel filtration separated the growth factor activity into two peaks. A broad first peak contained 98% of the protein and several growth factor moieties. A smaller second peak (MW 6,000) contained epidermal growth factor (EGF) as determined by binding in both a competitive receptor binding assay and a radioimmunoassay using anti-mouse epidermal growth factor (anti-mEGF). The broad first peak also contained substantial amounts of EGF-like activity as higher MW forms of EGF. The broad first peak was further fractionated by heparin-Sepharose affinity chromatography. A major fraction with growth factor activity eluted at 1.5 M NaCl and this fraction was shown to contain bFGF by immunostaining with antisera prepared against synthetic peptides corresponding to amino acid sequences 1-12 (amino terminal), 33-43 (internal), and 136-145 (carboxy terminal) of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). EGF-like and bFGF-like molecules account for the major growth factor activity in the rat ventral prostate.