OBJECTIVE Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) modulate their phenotype between synthetic and contractile states in response to environmental changes; this modulation plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of restenosis and atherosclerosis. Here, we identified fibroblast growth factor 12 (FGF12) as a novel key regulator of the VSMC phenotype switch. APPROACH AND RESULTS Using murine models ...

Several fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) are able to reduce and improve radiation-induced tissue damage through the activation of surface fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFRs). In contrast, some FGFs lack classical signal sequences, which play roles in the release of FGFs, and the intracellular function of these FGFs is not well clarified. In this study, we evaluated the transcript levels ...

Voltage-gated sodium channels (Nav1.1-Nav1.9) are responsible for the initiation and propagation of action potentials in neurons, controlling firing patterns, synaptic transmission and plasticity of the brain circuit. Yet, it is the protein-protein interactions of the macromolecular complex that exert diverse modulatory actions on the channel, dictating its ultimate functional outcome. Despite ...

BACKGROUND Idiopathic ventricular tachycardia (VT) is a type of cardiac arrhythmia occurring in structurally normal hearts. The heritability of idiopathic VT remains to be clarified, and numerous genetic factors responsible for development of idiopathic VT are as yet unclear. Variations in FGF12 (fibroblast growth factor 12), which is expressed in the human ventricle and modulates the cardiac N...

OBJECTIVE We describe 2 additional patients with early-onset epilepsy with a de novo FGF12 mutation. METHODS Whole-exome sequencing was performed in 2 unrelated patients with early-onset epilepsy and their unaffected parents. Genetic variants were assessed by comparative trio analysis. Clinical evolution, EEG, and neuroimaging are described. The phenotype and response to treatment was reviewe...

To identify variants of the genes in fibroblast growth factors/fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGF/FGFR) signal pathway that predispose to mandibular prognathism (MP) in the general Chinese population systematically.Targeted sequencing of the FGF/FGFR genes was conducted in 176 MP individuals and 155 class I malocclusion controls. The associations of common and rare variants with MP as a ca...

The molecular cloning of cDNAs encoding murine fibroblast growth factor-13 (FGF-13/FHF-2) and three isoforms of murine FGF-12 (FHF-1) is described. Like their highly conserved human counterparts, murine FGF-12 and FGF-13 are part of a distinct subfamily of FGF-like proteins characterized by a greater degree of amino acid sequence cross-homology and by conserved N-terminal domains which do not i...

Voltage-gated sodium channels (Navs) are mainstays of neuronal function, and mutations in the genes encoding CNS Navs (Nav1.1 [SCN1A], Nav1.2 [SCN2A], Nav1.3 [SCN3A], and Nav1.6 [SCN8A]) are causes of some of the most common and severe genetic epilepsies and epileptic encephalopathies (EE).1 Fibroblast-growth-factor homologous factors (FHFs) compose a family of 4 proteins that interact with the...