The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family: angiogenic factors in health and disease |
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Authors: | David IR Holmes and Ian Zachary |
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Institution: | (1) BHF Laboratories and The Rayne Institute, Department of Medicine, University College London, 5 University Street, London, WC1E 6JJ, UK;(2) Ark Therapeutics Ltd, 1 Fitzroy Mews, London, W1T 6DE, UK; |
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Abstract: | Vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs) are a family of secreted polypeptides with a highly conserved receptor-binding
cystine-knot structure similar to that of the platelet-derived growth factors. VEGF-A, the founding member of the family,
is highly conserved between animals as evolutionarily distant as fish and mammals. In vertebrates, VEGFs act through a family
of cognate receptor kinases in endothelial cells to stimulate blood-vessel formation. VEGF-A has important roles in mammalian
vascular development and in diseases involving abnormal growth of blood vessels; other VEGFs are also involved in the development
of lymphatic vessels and disease-related angiogenesis. Invertebrate homologs of VEGFs and VEGF receptors have been identified
in fly, nematode and jellyfish, where they function in developmental cell migration and neurogenesis. The existence of VEGF-like
molecules and their receptors in simple invertebrates without a vascular system indicates that this family of growth factors
emerged at a very early stage in the evolution of multicellular organisms to mediate primordial developmental functions. |
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