title: The heparan sulfate-fibroblast growth factor family: diversity of structure and function.
abstract: The fibroblast growth factor (FGF) receptor complex is a ubiquitous regulator of development and adult tissue homeostasis that bridges the peri-cellular matrix and the intracellular environment. Diverse members of the FGF polypeptide family, the FGF receptor tyrosine kinase (FGFRTK) family and the FGF receptor heparan sulfate proteoglycan (FGFRHS) family combine to result in active and specific FGFR signal transduction complexes. Regulated alternate splicing and combination of variant subdomains give rise to diversity of FGFRTK monomers. Divalent cations cooperate with the FGFRHS to conformationally restrict FGFRTK trans-phosphorylation, which causes depression of kinase activity and facilitates appropriate activation of the FGFR complex by FGF. Diffusional and conformational molecular models of the oligomeric FGFR complex are presented to explain how different point mutations in the FGFRTK commonly cause craniofacial and skeletal abnormalities of graded severity by graded increases in FGF-independent activity of total FGFR complexes. The role of the FGF family in liver growth and function and in prostate tumor progression is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Albert B. Alkek Institute of Biosciences and Technology, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, Houston 77030, USA.
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: McKeehan
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology*; D006497:Heparan Sulfate / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data
chemical_list: D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors; D006497:Heparan Sulfate