doi: 10.1161/01.RES.0000338258.90706.2c
© 2008 American Heart Association, Inc.
Editorials |
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor and the Collateral Circulation
The Story Continues
From the Department of Integrative Medical Sciences, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, Rootstown.
Correspondence to William M. Chilian, PhD, Department of Integrative Medical Sciences, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, 4209 State Rd 44, Rootstown, Ohio 44272. E-mail wchilian@neoucom.edu
See related article, pages 1027–1036
Key Words: collateral circulation • growth factors
An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract. |
The Greek philosopher Socrates once mused that the more one knows, the more one does not know. An extension of this philosophy could be applied to our knowledge of the myriad actions and effects of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). It seems that the more we understand about VEGF, the less we really comprehend about this complicated many-faceted, growth factor/cytokine/morphogen/survival factor/permeability factor, protein!
Originally VEGF was described as vascular permeability factor, a glycoprotein with a mass of 40 kDa, which induced macromolecular leakage in the circulation.1–4 At approximately the same time as the permeability effects were elucidated, the potent angiogenic activities of VEGF were also uncovered, leading to the suggestion that we name it vasculotropin.5–8 Since these reports in the late 1980s and early 1990s, publications related to the actions, signaling, and regulation of VEGF, have proliferated to now exceed 24 000. Although the initial isoforms described were of the VEGF-A family, the VEGF clan has since grown to 5 (VEGF-A, VEGF-B, VEGF-C, VEGF-D, and PLGF),9 and new "offspring" continue to appear at the doorstep.10,11 The remaining discussion here focuses on VEGF-A family members, often referred to collectively as simply VEGF.
The majority of publications have reported that the actions of VEGF are confined largely to endothelial cells, where it is critical for angiogenesis and embryonic vasculogenesis.12,13 However, as studies uncovered the myriad additional actions of VEGF an enigma surfaced, vis-à-vis, VEGF was found to also play a role in arterial (ie, smooth muscle cell) growth, both in the embryo
Related Article:
Circ. Res. 2008 103: 1027-1036.