Polypeptide growth factors and the kidney.

Various polypeptide growth factors can act on different cell types in an autocrine, paracrine or endocrine manner. These bio-active peptides regulate molecular and cellular events that culminate in DNA synthesis and cell division. While, one or more polypeptides might be implicated as playing a predominant biological role in the kidney, in a given in vitro or in vivo situation, a network and cascade of events determines the final pattern of cell growth and response to injury. Elucidation of these molecular events and mechanisms of action of growth factors in the kidney is of fundamental importance to our understanding of both the normal development and disease states of the kidney.