Vascular endothelial growth factor is an important signaling protein involved in both vasculogenesis and angiogenesis. As its name implies, VEGF activity has been mostly studied on cells of the vascular endothelium, although it does have effects on a number of other cell types (e.g. stimulation monocyte/ macrophagemigration, neurons, cancer cells, kidney epithelial cells ). VEGF mediates increased vascular permeability, induces angiogenesis, vasculogenesis and endothelial cell growth, promotes cell migration, and inhibits apoptosis. In vitro, VEGF has been shown to stimulate endothelial cell mitogenesisand cell migration. VEGF is also a vasodilator and increases microvascular permeability and was originally referred to as vascular permeability factor.Elevated levels of this protein are linked to POEMS syndrome, also known as Crow-Fukase syndrome. Mutations in this gene have been associated with proliferative and nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy Synonyms: Vascular endothelial growth factor A, VEGF-A, Vascular permeability factor, VPF, VEGF, MGC70609.