Abstract
Clones encoding the angiogenic endothelial cell mitogen, basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF), have been isolated from human cDNA libraries made from kidney, fetal heart, fetal liver, term placenta, and a breast carcinoma. Basic FGF cDNA clones are present in these libraries at very low levels when compared to the quantity of the growth factor in the tissues. This observation, combined with the fact that several of the clones represent unspliced transcripts, suggests that cytoplasmic basic FGF mRNA is unstable and that the protein is stored in tissues. The amino acid sequence of human basic FGF, deduced from the sequence of these cDNAs and from genomic clones, is 99% homologous to that of bovine basic FGF, implying a strong selection pressure for maintenance of function and structure. As with the bovine factor, human basic FGF does not appear to have a signal peptide sequence. Southern blot analysis of human genomic DNA and mapping of the cloned gene shows that there is only one basic FGF gene. All of the basic, heparin-binding endothelial cell mitogens of similar amino acid composition that have been described must therefore be products of this single gene.