Description
Product Characteristics: PDGFs are disulfide-linked dimers consisting of two 12.0-13.5 kDa polypeptide chains, designated PDGF-A and PDGF-B chains. The three naturally occurring PDGFs, PDGF-AA, PDGF-BB and PDGF-AB, are potent mitogens for a variety of cell types including smooth muscle cells, connective tissue cells, bone and cartilage cells, and some blood cells. The PDGFs are stored in platelet a-granules and are released upon platelet activation. The PDGFs are involved in a number of biological processes, including hyperplasia, chemotaxis, embryonic neuron development, and respiratory tubule epithelial cell development.
Target Information: The protein encoded by this gene is a member of the platelet-derived growth factor family. The four members of this family are mitogenic factors for cells of mesenchymal origin and are characterized by a motif of eight cysteines. This gene product can exist either as a homodimer (PDGF-BB) or as a heterodimer with the platelet-derived growth factor alpha polypeptide (PDGF-AB), where the dimers are connected by disulfide bonds. Mutations in this gene are associated with meningioma. Reciprocal translocations between chromosomes 22 and 17, at sites where this gene and that for collagen type 1, alpha 1 are located, are associated with a particular type of skin tumor called dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans resulting from unregulated expression of growth factor. Two alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been identified for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Feb 2013]