HYPOXIC REGULATION OF VEGF MESSENGER-RNA STABILITY BY RNA-BINDING PROTEINS

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), is a potent angiogenic fact or whose expression is dramatically induced by hypoxia. We have previo usly demonstrated that the induction of VEGF bl? hypoxia is in large p art the result of an increased stability of VEGF mRNA. The stabilizati on of VEGF mRNA by hypoxia is mediated by the binding of sequence-spec ific RNA-binding proteins. This review focuses on one such protein, Hu R, an RNA-binding protein which we have recently shown is critical for the hypoxic stabilization of VEGF mRNA. (C) 1998, Elsevier Science In c.