placental growth factor; PlGF (PGF, PGFL, PLGF)

Function

• growth factor active in angiogenesis & endothelial cell growth, stimulating their proliferation & migration.
• controls blood vessel formation & permeability through interactions with two endothelial tyrosine kinase receptors: FLT1 & KDR/FLK1
• PlGF-2 binds NRP1/neuropilin-1 & NRP2/neuropilin-2 (heparin-dependent)
• forms heterodimer with VEGFA/VEGF
• isoform PlGF-3 is found both as homodimer & as monomer

Structure

• N-glycosylated
• antiparallel homodimer; disulfide-linked
• isoform PlGF-2 contains a basic insert which acts as a cell retention signal
• belongs to the PDGF/VEGF growth factor family

Compartment

• secreted
• PlGF-2 appears to remain cell attached unless released by heparin

Alternative splicing

• named isoforms=3; PlGF-1, PlGF-2, PlGF-3

Expression

• present in most placental tissues
• PlGF-2 is specific to early (8 week) placenta
• only PlGF-1 is found in the colon & mammary carcinomas

Pathology

• plasma placental growth factor levels are decreased in women with pre-eclampsia

Laboratory

• placental growth factor in serum

More general terms

• growth factor
• glycoprotein

Additional terms

• vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1; VEGFR-1; vascular permeability factor receptor; tyrosine-protein kinase receptor FLT; Flt-1; tyrosine-protein kinase FRT; Fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (FLT1, FLT, FRT)
• vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2; VEGFR-2; kinase insert domain receptor; protein-tyrosine kinase receptor Flk-1; CD309 (KDR, FLK1)

Database

• Entrez gene: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=gene&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=Graphics&list_uids=5228
• Kegg: http://www.genome.jp/dbget-bin/www_bget?hsa:5228
• OMIM: https://mirror.omim.org/entry/601121
• UniProt: http://www.uniprot.org/uniprot/P49763.html