Acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF), also known as FGF-1, ECGF and HBGF-1, is a non-glycosylated heparin binding growth factor and member of the FGF family of mitogenic peptides. It is involved in several important physiological and pathological processes, such as embryonic development, morphogenesis, angiogenesis, wound healing and atheromatosis (1). aFGF is expressed in the brain, kidney, retina, smooth muscle cells, bone matrix, osteoblasts, astrocytes and endothelial cells. It is the only member of the FGF family that binds with high affinity to all four FGF receptors (2). aFGF binds to cell surface receptors with high affinity with the prerequisite association with heparin sulfate. This ligation subsequently initiates receptor dimerization, transphosphorylation, as well as internalization of receptor/FGF complexes, and thus aFGF is translocated across cellular membranes and transported to the nucleus. The FGF pathway regulates primitive hematopoiesis by modulating transcription factors such as Gata1 expression level and activity (3). aFGF has been implicated in an autocrine system by which calcium regulates parathyroid cell growth. It has been demonstrated that the expression of aFGF is highest during the late stages of hepatic morphogenesis in newborn rats as well as during hepatic differentiation in adult liver. The intravenous application of aFGF has shown that the factor promotes the regeneration of the endothelium following arterial intravascular injuries (4). Overexpression of aFGF in pancreatic cancers has been found to be associated with a more advanced tumor stage. Recent studies have also demonstrated that chimeric toxins composed of aFGF fused to mutant forms of Pseudomonas exotoxin, are cytotoxic to a variety of tumor cell lines with FGF receptors (5).

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