Specificity
This antibody recognises human VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor), a heparin-binding cytokine and member of the PDGF/VEGF growth factor family, which exists as several splice variants of the VEGF gene. VEGF, originally named vascular permeability factor due to its ability to act as vasodilator and increase microvascular permeability, is a potent stimulator of angiogenesis of both normal and cancerous cells, and acts as a regulator of vasculogenesis.The functional forms of VEGF exist as disulphide-linked homodimers and are classified according to the number of amino acid residues within a constitutive polypeptide chain e.g VEGF165. All VEGF family members act through binding to the tyrosine kinase receptors VEGFR-1 (Flt-1) and VEGFR-2 (KDR/CD309), whilst the closely-related VEGF-C and VEGF-D, can also bind to VEGFR-3 (Flt-4).