【ELK Newsletter】Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)
Posted on15/05/2024
by
Caroline Yuan | ELK Biotechnology CO.,Ltd.
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Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a type of highly biologically active glycoprotein. In 1989, Ferrara et al. purified VEGF from beef wattle and found that it was an endothelial cell-specific mitogen. Its amino acid sequence was similar to that of known proteins at that time. The amino acid sequences are all different. According to its activity in promoting mitosis of vascular endothelial cells, it is named vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).
VEGF is a powerful and specific endothelial cell mitogen that mediates the proliferation, sprouting, migration and lumen formation of endothelial cells. The human VEGF gene is located at 6p21.3 and consists of 8 exons and 7 introns. Through different splicing methods of the mRNA transcribed by the gene, it encodes 4 main isoforms, which are VEGF121, VEGF165, VEGF189 and VEGF206. Composed of 121, 165, 189 and 206 amino acids respectively. The structures of the four main VEGF isomers are summarized in the figure below.
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Application of VEGF in tumor screening and diagnosis
VEGF can be used as an early marker of cancer. For example, Findeisen et al. used ELISA to detect the contents of VEGF, TPA, CA15-3, and CEA in 314 breast cancer sera and 58 normal female sera. The results showed that: VEGF blood levels not only increased in all stages of breast cancer, but also increased in other stages. It increases in the early stage 0-1. However, CA15-3 and CEA are significantly different only between stage 4 cancer and normal controls. It is believed that VEGF is better than CEA and CA15-3 in detecting breast cancer. When studying the relationship between the blood levels of VEGF and CEA and the clinical characteristics of lung cancer patients, it was found that VEGF has a better early diagnostic value than CEA in stage I (early stage) adenocarcinoma.
VEGF related products
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