Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor is a sub-family of growth factors produced by cells that stimulates vasculogenesis and angiogenesis. VEGF's normal function is to create new blood vessels during embryonic development, new blood vessels after injury, muscle following exercise, and new vessels (collateral circulation) to bypass blocked vessels. VEGF signals through the three receptors: fms-like tyrosine kinase (flt-1), KDR gene product (the murine homolog of KDR is the flk-1 gene product) and the flt4 gene product. Mouse express alternately spliced isoforms of 120, 164, 182 amino acids (a.a.) in length. The VEGF120 shares 98 % a.a. sequence identity with corresponding regions of rat, 89 % with canine, feline, equine and porcine, and 87 % with human, ovine and bovine VEGF, respectively.
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