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Endocrine gland–derived VEGF and the emerging hypothesis of organ-specific regulation of angiogenesis

Nature Medicine volume 8, pages 913–917 (2002)Cite this article

The diversity in growth and morphological characteristics among endothelial cells in different normal tissues and tumors has been long recognized. Yet there has been no clear molecular explanation for such diversity at the level of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) and other established regulators of angiogenesis that are expressed widely and show little tissue selectivity in their angiogenic properties. Endocrine gland–derived VEGF represents the first example of a tissue-specific angiogenic factor, likely to be followed by others.

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Figure 1: Restricted expression of EG-VEGF and its receptors.
Figure 2: Differential expression of VEGF and EG-VEGF in adrenal tumors.

Courtesy of F. Peale, G. Frantz and L. Dillard-Telm.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Oncology, Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, California, USA

    Jennifer LeCouter, Rui Lin & Napoleone Ferrara

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  2. Rui Lin
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  3. Napoleone Ferrara
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LeCouter, J., Lin, R. & Ferrara, N. Endocrine gland–derived VEGF and the emerging hypothesis of organ-specific regulation of angiogenesis. Nat Med 8, 913–917 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0902-913

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