Proheparin-Binding EGF-like Growth Factor, rat recombinant (rrHB-EGF)

Rat recombinant HB-EGF produced in E.coli is a single, non-glycosylated, polypeptide chain containing 86 amino acids and having a molecular mass of 9.7kDa. HB-EGF is an EGF related growth factor which signals via the EGF receptor, and stimulates the proliferation of SMC (smooth muscle cells), fibroblasts, epithelial cells and keratinocytes. HB-EGF is expressed in various cell types and tissues, including vascular endothelial cells and SMC, macrophages, skeletal muscle, keratinocytes and particular tumor cells. HB-EGF's ability to explicitly bind heparin and heparin sulfate proteoglycans is dissimilar from other EGF-like molecules, and might be related to the enhanced mitogenic activity, relative to EGF, that HB-EGF exerts on smooth muscle cells.