title: Vascular endothelial growth factor B, a novel growth factor for endothelial cells.
abstract: We have isolated and characterized a novel growth factor for endothelial cells, vascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGF-B), with structural similarities to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and placenta growth factor. VEGF-B was particularly abundant in heart and skeletal muscle and was coexpressed with VEGF in these and other tissues. VEGF-B formed cell-surface-associated disulfide-linked homodimers and heterodimerized with VEGF when coexpressed. Conditioned medium from transfected 293EBNA cells expressing VEGF-B stimulated DNA synthesis in endothelial cells. Our results suggest that VEGF-B has a role in angiogenesis and endothelial cell growth, particularly in muscle.
authors.affiliation: Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Olofsson
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pajusola
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kaipainen
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: von Euler
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Joukov
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Saksela
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Orpana
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Pettersson
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Alitalo
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Eriksson
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000166:cytology*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000276:immunology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D042561:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor B
chemical_list: D016228:Endothelial Growth Factors; D010455:Peptides; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D042561:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor B