11 Facts About VEGF

In vitro, VEGF-A has been shown to stimulate endothelial cell mitogenesis and cell migration.

VEGF-A is a vasodilator and increases microvascular permeability and was originally referred to as vascular permeability factor.

Recently, VEGF-C has been shown to be an important inducer of neurogenesis in the murine subventricular zone, without exerting angiogenic effects.

The VEGF receptors have an extracellular portion consisting of 7 immunoglobulin-like domains, a single transmembrane spanning region, and an intracellular portion containing a split tyrosine-kinase domain.

The expression of angiopoietin-2 in the absence of VEGF leads to endothelial cell death and vascular regression.

VEGF-A is highly expressed in the acute and sub-acute stages of CNS injury, but the protein expression declines over time.

VEGF-A has been implicated with poor prognosis in breast cancer.

VEGF-A is released in rheumatoid arthritis in response to TNF-a, increasing endothelial permeability and swelling and stimulating angiogenesis.

VEGF-A plays a role in the disease pathology of the wet form age-related macular degeneration, which is the leading cause of blindness for the elderly of the industrialized world.

Hence, VEGF is a potential target for the treatment of cancer.

VEGF-D has been shown to be over expressed in lymphangioleiomyomatosis and is currently used as a diagnostic biomarker in the treatment of this rare disease.