10 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 12 1. The VEGF family 12 1.1. Growth factors 1.1.1. Vascular endothelial groth factor (VEGF-A) 12 1.1.2. VEGF-B 13 1.1.3. VEGF-C 13 1.1.4. VEGF-D 15 1.1.5. VEGF-E 16 1.2. The VEGF receptors 16 1.2.1. VEGFR-1 (or FLT1) 17 1.2.2. VEGFR-2 (KDR) 17 1.2.3. NEUROPILIN-1 (or receptor for VEGF165) 17 1.2.4. VEGFR-3 (or Flt4) 19 2. The Angiopoietin/Tie family 19 2.1. Growth f...

Angiogenesis is a highly regulated process orchestrated by the VEGF system. Heparin/heparan sulfate (HS) proteoglycans and neuropilin-1 (NRP-1) have been identified as co-receptors, yet the mechanisms of action have not been fully defined. In the present study we characterized molecular interactions between receptors and co-receptors, using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and in vitro binding a...

Receptor endocytosis is a fundamental step in controlling the magnitude, duration, and nature of cell signaling events. Confluent endothelial cells are contact inhibited in their growth and respond poorly to the proliferative signals of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). In a previous study, we found that the association of vascular endothelial cadherin (VEC) with VEGF receptor (VEGFR) ...

BACKGROUND For the successful therapeutic use of inhibitors of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) pathway detailed knowledge of the mechanisms leading to tumor progression is indispensable. The main goal of this study was to determine the relevance of the VEGFR-2 activating pathway for colon carcinoma (CC) metastasis. The initial event is ligand-induced receptor activation ...

We recently reported that (i) activation of the proinflammatory receptor, proteinase-activated receptor-2 (PAR-2) caused the release of an important biomarker in preeclampsia, soluble vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1 (sVEGFR-1, also known as sFlt-1) from human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), and (ii) that the anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory agent, resveratrol, is capa...

Vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) is known to play an important role in the angiogenic response essential for tumor growth in a variety of human and experimental tumors. This study was designed to investigate whether VEGF-A may play a role in the pathogenesis of recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP). A retrospective study with institutional review board approval was performed a...

OBJECTIVE Blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction caused by activation of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) is a pathological feature in vascular/neurological disease. We describe the mechanisms of BBB dysfunction and neuroinflammation as a result of MMP-3/9 activation and disruption of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A/VEGFR-2 interaction, impairing effective angiogenesis. METHODS AND...

In Fig. 4, the concentration of staurosporine (STS) was mistakenly given as 50 mM, rather than the correct concentration of 50 nM (lines 9 and 15 in the legend). Moreover, the first sentence in the 'Signal transduction inhibitors' section in the Materials and Methods (page 3198) should read: Rapamycin, staurosporine and wortmannin were purchased from Calbiochem (Merck Chemicals Ltd, Nottingham,...

Placental growth factor (PlGF) is a member of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family of angiogenesis factors. It has the highest expression level in the endothelium as compared to other VEGF family members and plays an important role in pathological neovascularization. 1 In humans, four isoforms of PlGF exist (PlGF-1 through 4). Mice only express a single isoform of PlGF which is ...