New insights into heparin-induced FGF oligomerization.

ABSTRACT

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) play important roles in a variety of developmental processes in mammals. The dependence of their activity on heparin binding has been a puzzle that, in recent years, has been the subject of active investigation. Recent structural analyses on complexes of FGFs with heparin fragments or heparin analogs have unveiled the extreme complexity of these systems.