FGF-6

FGF-6 has a predominantly muscle-restricted profile among the canonical ligands. It is expressed in skeletal myoblasts, the developing limb and heart, where it regulates myogenic differentiation, participates in muscle regeneration after injury and contributes to cardiac hypertrophic responses. FGF-6 acts through FGFR1 and FGFR4 in myogenic cells. The gene has also been implicated as a transforming oncogene: it is overexpressed in a fraction of prostate cancers and in rhabdomyosarcoma cell lines, and Fgf6 transgenic mice develop a muscular dystrophy-like phenotype. Recombinant FGF-6 supports studies of myoblast proliferation and differentiation, satellite-cell activation and FGFR subtype selectivity in muscle biology.