Heparin-based hydrogels are attractive for controlled growth factor delivery, due to the native ability of heparin to bind and stabilize growth factors. Basic fibroblast growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor are heparin-binding growth factors that synergistically enhance angiogenesis. Mild, in situ encapsulation of both basic fibroblast growth factor and vascular endothelial grow...

A calcium-permeable, voltage-insensitive non-specific cation channel that is activated by cytoplasmic calcium was found in approximately 50% of the cell-attached patches in cultured human retinal glial cells sampled by the patch clamp technique. Spontaneous openings of this channel were infrequent, but increased markedly when glial cells were exposed to basic fibroblast growth factor. Although ...

AXC/SSh rat prostate cancer cells elaborate heat-sensitive, heparin-binding mitogens which include members of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-like family of growth factors. The quantity of FGF-like growth factors, relative to total growth factor production, was cell line specific as was prostate cancer cell response to secreted or the prototypic mitogens basic FGF (bFGF), acidic FGF (aFGF), ...

In this issue of Chemistry & Biology, Kim and colleagues describe their work on optogenetic control of fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) signaling. By engineering a chimeric receptor, the authors demonstrate that FGFR intracellular signaling can be controlled in space and time by blue light.

The conformational stability and the folding properties of the all-beta-type protein human basic fibroblast growth factor (hFGF-2) were studied by means of fluorescence spectroscopy. The results show that the instability of the biological activity of hFGF-2 is also reflected in a low conformational stability of the molecule. The reversibility of the unfolding and refolding process was establish...