The World Health Organization reference reagent for vascular endothelial growth factor, VEGF165.
Preparations of human sequence recombinant vascular endothelial growth factor-165 (VEGF165) synthesized in Escherichia coli were formulated and lyophilized at NIBSC. Following evaluation at NIBSC, the first preparation, 01/424, has been distributed since 2002 as a NIBSC research reagent, but shows variation between ampoules in the volume and crystalline appearance of the lyophilized plug. A second preparation, 02/286, was subsequently lyophilized in a different formulation. Preparation 02/286 has now been evaluated in a collaborative study for its suitability to serve as a reference standard, and compared with preparation 01/424, by five laboratories using in vitro bioassays or immunoassays. On the basis of the results reported here, the World Health Organization (WHO) established the preparation coded 02/286 as the WHO reference reagent (RR) for human VEGF165, with an assigned unitage of 13,000 units per ampoule.
Robinson
C Jane
CJ
National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, Herts EN6 3QG, UK. jrobinson@nibsc.ac.uk
Das
Rose Gaines
RG
Stammers
Ray
R
Rafferty
Brian
B
D001681:Biological Assay; D002460:Cell Line; D005612:Freeze Drying; D006801:Humans; D012015:Reference Standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013696:Temperature; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000032:analysis / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000592:standards*; D014944:World Health Organization
D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A