Thymidine Phosphorylase (TP)

Platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor is a novel angiogenic factor distinct from the previously described endothelial cell mitogens of the fibroblast growth factor family. PD-ECGF, which is stored in platelets as a 45-kD single polypeptide chain, has a highly restricted target cell specificity acting only on endothelial cells. It promotes angiogenesis in vivo and stimulates the in vitro growth of a variety of endothelial cells.

Cloning of the gene revealed that it contains 10 exons spanning more than 4.3 kb .Using an ECGF1 cDNA probe, Stenman et al. assigned the ECGF1 gene to chromosome 22 by analysis of its segregation in a panel of human/rodent somatic cell hybrids. By in situ hybridization, they sublocalized the gene to 22q13.