BACKGROUND The distal portion of the long arm of chromosome 5 is linked to hypertension and contains functional candidate blood pressure-regulating genes. METHODS AND RESULTS Tightening the grid of microsatellite markers under this quantitative trait locus in the Silesian Hypertension Study (629 individuals from 207 Polish hypertensive families) provided enhanced support for linkage of this r...

Acidic fibroblast growth factor (FGF1) has been suggested to enhance the functional activities of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). The Forkhead homeobox type O transcription factors (FOXOs), a key substrate of the survival kinase Akt, play important roles in regulation of various cellular processes. We previously have shown that FOXO3a is the main subtype of FOXOs expressed in EPCs. Here, w...

Acidic fibroblast growth factor (FGF1) and neuregulin-1 (NRG1) are growth factors involved in cardiac development and regeneration. Microparticles (MPs) mediate cytokine sustained release, and can be utilized to overcome issues related to the limited therapeutic protein stability during systemic administration. We sought to examine whether the administration of microparticles (MPs) containing F...

Besides its classical mode of action through activation of specific receptors at the cell surface, fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF1) can also cross the cellular membrane and translocate into the cytosol and further to the nucleus. The mechanism of this translocation is described partially, but the role of FGF1 inside the cell remains unknown. The aim of our work was to identify novel binding pa...

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) play a critical role in diverse physiological processes and the pathogenesis of diseases. Integrins are involved in FGF signaling, since integrin antagonists suppress FGF signaling. This is called integrin-FGF crosstalk, while the specifics of the crosstalk are unclear. This review highlights recent findings that FGF1 directly interacts with integrin αvβ3, and t...

Aplastic anemia (AA) is rare disease that is predominantly observed in adolescents. Without effective management at an early stage, is associated with a high risk of mortality. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) can differentiate into various types of cell, which are able to produce a number of hematopoietic growth factors considered to be important in AA alleviation. However, the mecha...

FGF1 is a signal peptide-less nonclassically released growth factor that is involved in angiogenesis, tissue repair, inflammation, and carcinogenesis. The effects of nonclassical FGF export in vivo are not sufficiently studied. We produced transgenic mice expressing FGF1 in endothelial cells (EC), which allowed the detection of FGF1 export to the vasculature, and studied the efficiency of posti...

Approximately two thirds of patients with human immunodeficiency virus encephalitis (HIVE) show cognitive impairment and neurodegeneration, while one third are cognitively unimpaired and their neuronal populations are preserved. Thus, it is possible that these individuals might have the capacity to produce neurotrophic factors capable of protecting neurons against the deleterious effects of HIV...

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) regulate several cellular developmental processes by interacting with cell surface heparan proteoglycans and transmembrane cell surface receptors (FGFR). The interaction of FGF with heparan sulfate (HS) is known to induce protein oligomerization, increase the affinity of FGF towards its receptor FGFR, promoting the formation of the HS-FGF-FGFR signaling complex....

Chronic demyelination is a pathological hallmark of multiple sclerosis (MS). Only a minority of MS lesions remyelinates completely. Enhancing remyelination is, therefore, a major aim of future MS therapies. Here we took a novel approach to identify factors that may inhibit or support endogenous remyelination in MS. We dissected remyelinated, demyelinated active, and demyelinated inactive white ...