Growth factor control of extracellular proteolysis.

The involvement of proteases and growth factors in angiogenesis is complex. The angiogenic factor basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) induces increased synthesis of both plasminogen activator and collagenase in endothelial cells. In addition, bFGF increases the number of plasminogen activator receptors on the cell surface. Increased production of plasmin may be responsible for the release of soluble complexes of heparan sulfate-bFGF which may be the active form of bFGF. The activity of a negative regulator of angiogenesis, transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta), is also regulated by proteases since the released latent form of TGF-beta is activated by a surface proteolytic assembly plasminogen activator and plasmin. Since TGF-beta induces an inhibitor of plasminogen activator, the activation reaction is self-regulatory.