History
Fibroblast growth factor was found in pituitary extracts by Armelin in 1973 and then was also found in a cow brain extract by Gospodarowicz, et al., and tested in a bioassay that caused fibroblasts to proliferate (first published report in 1974).
They then further fractionated the extract using acidic and basic pH and isolated two slightly different forms that were named "acidic fibroblast growth factor" (FGF1) and "basic fibroblast growth factor" (FGF2). These proteins had a high degree of amino acid identity but were determined to be distinct mitogens. Human FGF2 occurs in low molecular weight (LMW) and high molecular weight (HMW) isoforms. LMW FGF2 is primarily cytoplasmic and functions in an autocrine manner, whereas HMW FGF2s are nuclear and exert activities through an intracrine mechanism.
Not long after FGF1 and FGF2 were isolated, another group isolated a pair of heparin-binding growth factors that they named HBGF-1 and HBGF-2, while a third group isolated a pair of growth factors that caused proliferation of cells in a bioassay containing blood vessel endothelium cells, which they called ECGF1 and ECGF2. These proteins were found to be identical to the acidic and basic FGFs described by Gospodarowicz, et al.
Read more about this topic: Fibroblast Growth Factor
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