VEGFR

Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptors (VEGFRs) are key mediators of angiogenesis, the process of new blood vessel formation, crucial for both physiological processes like wound healing and pathological conditions such as cancer and diabetic retinopathy. These receptors are tyrosine kinases that, upon binding to their ligands (VEGFs), initiate a signaling cascade promoting endothelial cell proliferation, migration, and survival. VEGFRs are primarily expressed on the surface of endothelial cells lining blood vessels. Given their central role in angiogenesis, VEGFRs are major targets in anti-angiogenic therapy, particularly in cancer treatment, where inhibiting blood vessel growth is a strategy to starve tumors of nutrients and oxygen, thus inhibiting their growth and metastasis.