VEGFA - vascular endothelial growth factor A Gene

This gene is a member of the PDGF/VEGF growth factor family. It encodes a heparin-binding protein, which exists as a disulfide-linked homodimer. This growth factor induces proliferation and migration of vascular endothelial cells, and is essential for both physiological and pathological angiogenesis. It is upregulated in many known tumors and its expression is correlated with tumor stage and progression. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been described for this gene. A recent study showed that a C-terminally extended isoform is produced by use of an alternative in-frame translation termination codon via a stop codon readthrough mechanism, and that this isoform is antiangiogenic. [provided by RefSeq, Nov 2015]