title: New Insights into VEGF-A Alternative Splicing: Key Regulatory Switching in the Pathological Process.
abstract: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-A) is one of the most important regulatory factors in pathological and physiological angiogenesis. Alternative splicing is a complicated molecular process in VEGF-A gene expression which adds complexity to VEGF-A biology. Among all VEGF-A exons, alternative splicing of exon 8 is the key determinant of isoform switching from pro-angio-genic VEGF-xxx to anti-angiogenic VEGF-xxxb. This is known as a key molecular switching in many pathological situations. In fact, the balance between VEGF-xxx and VEGF-xxxb isoforms is a critical controlling switch in both conditions of health and disease. Here, the properties of VEGF-xxx and VEGF-xxxb isoforms were discussed and their regulatory mechanism and their roles in certain pathological processes were evaluated. In summary, it was suggested that C-terminal VEGF-A alternative splicing can provide a new treatment opportunity in angiogenic diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Fariba
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dehghanian
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Zohreh
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hojati
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kay
keywords: Alternative splicing; Angoigenesis; Disease; Health; Vascular endothelial growth factor A