VASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL GROWTH FACTOR

Abstract

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF or VEGF-A) is the prototype and best-described member of a family of at least six largely endothelial-specific, heparin-binding, angiogenic growth factors. VEGF family members are crucial to the normal development and maintenance of the vascular and lymphatic systems. VEGF stimulates endothelial cells to degrade extracellular matrix, proliferate, migrate, and form tubes, and acts as an endothelial cell survival factor. VEGF also increases vascular permeability, leading to its alternative name, vascular permeability factor. VEGF family members exert their effects through interactions with a family of three VEGF receptors and with two co-receptors known as neuropilins. Differing combinations of VEGF family members and receptors mediate tissue-specific effects. Expression of VEGF in the developing pulmonary epithelium is a major modulator of normal pulmonary vascular development during fetal life. Following a number of pulmonary insults, both local increases in VEGF production, which result in increased vascular leakage and edema, and an overall decrease in VEGF abundance, which coincides with microvascular endothelial cell loss, are associated with the development of acute lung injury. VEGF production by lung cancers is an important mechanism by which the cancers recruit new vasculature, allowing them to grow, invade neighboring tissue, and metastasize.