National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD 20852, USA.
Trends Mol Med. 2012 Feb;18(2):119-27. doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2011.11.006. Epub 2011 Dec 15.
No other member of the VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) family has been as mysterious as VEGF-B. Notwithstanding its name, VEGF-B can hardly be regarded as a growth factor because growth occurs fairly normally in Vegf-b deficient mice. Moreover, VEGF-B is barely angiogenic under most conditions, although it was expected to be an angiogenic factor for a long time. Under certain conditions, VEGF-B has been shown to be involved in blood vessel growth. Under other conditions, however, VEGF-B can act to inhibit tumor growth and angiogenesis. Given these contradictory findings, the biological function of VEGF-B appears enigmatic. In this review, we summarize recent advances in VEGF-B biology and discuss its multifaceted roles, the underlying mechanisms, and the potential therapeutic implications.
血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）家族的其他成员都没有像 VEGF-B 那样神秘。尽管它的名字叫 VEGF-B，但它很难被视为一种生长因子，因为在 Vegf-b 缺陷小鼠中，生长发育相当正常。此外，在大多数情况下，VEGF-B 几乎没有血管生成作用，尽管长期以来它一直被认为是一种血管生成因子。在某些条件下，已经证明 VEGF-B 参与血管生长。然而，在其他条件下，VEGF-B 可以抑制肿瘤生长和血管生成。鉴于这些相互矛盾的发现，VEGF-B 的生物学功能似乎很神秘。在这篇综述中，我们总结了 VEGF-B 生物学的最新进展，并讨论了其多方面的作用、潜在的机制和潜在的治疗意义。
