Cells communicate with one another using growth factors. Many growth factors mature inside cells and are secreted. Other growth factors are anchored to the cell membrane. With the correct signal, these membrane-anchored growth factors are cleaved from the cell surface and exported into the medium. Little is known about this cleavage. Epidermal growth factor is the classic example of this type of membrane-anchored growth factor and serves as a good model for study. Much literature and many reagents underpin the effort. Epidermal growth factor can promote the growth of many cell types and plays an important in both normal and malignant cell growth. EGF has been the subject of several IND's before the Agency. Research will help CBER staff better understand the post-translational processing, expression, and mechanism of action of not only EGF but other growth factors.
