| Description: | The Fibroblast Growth Factors (FGFs) are heparin binding glycoproteins that exert a variety of biological activities toward cells of mesenchymal, neuronal, and epithelial origin. FGF-10 belongs to the subgroup of FGFs that also includes FGF-3, -7, and -22 (1). Mature human FGF-10 is an approximately 20 kDa protein that contains a serine-rich region near its N-terminus FGF family members possess broad mitogenic and cell survival activities, and are involved in a variety of biological processes,including embryonic development, cell growth, morphogenesis, tissue repair, tumor growth and invasion. This protein exhibits mitogenic activity for keratinizing epidermal cells, but essentially no activity for fibroblasts, which is similar to the biological activity ofFGF7. Studiesof the mouse homolog of suggested that this gene is required for embryonic epidermal morphogenesis including brain development, lung morphogenesis, and initiation of limb bud formation. This gene is also implicated to be a primary factor in the process of wound healing. |
