Fibroblast Growth Factor 8c (FGF-8c) is a cytokine belonging to the heparin-binding FGF family, which has at least 23 members. In different species, e.g. human and mouse, FGF-8 has 8 different isoforms, from FGF-8a to FGF-8h. Different FGF-8 isoforms have different affinities to the receptors, thus conduct different signaling cascade pathways. FGF-8 has very widespread expression pattern during embryonic development, and is an organizer and inducer for gastrulation, somitogenesis, morphogenesis, and limb induction. However, FGF-8 is also a potential oncogene: in normal adult cells, FGF-8 has very low expression; on the other hand, FGF-8 is highly expressed in cancer cells of breast, prostate, and ovarian tumors. FGF-8 promotes tumor angiogenesis by increasing neovascularization, and induces osteoblastic differentiation.
Recombinant mouse Fibroblast Growth Factor 8c (rmFGF-8c) produced in E. coli is a single non-glycosylated polypeptide chain containing 247 amino acids. A fully biologically active molecule, rmFGF-8c has a molecular mass of 28.2 kDa analyzed by reducing SDS-PAGE and is obtained by proprietary chromatographic techniques at ExCell Bio.