title: The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family: angiogenic factors in health and disease.
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.
authors.affiliation: BHF Laboratories and The Rayne Institute, Department of Medicine, University College London, 5 University Street, London WC1E 6JJ, UK.
authors.forename: David I R
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Zachary
mesh_terms: D017398:Alternative Splicing; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000209:etiology; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors