Human fibroblast growth factor-18 stimulates fibroblast cell proliferation and is mapped to chromosome 14p11

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Abstract
The fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) play crucial roles in controlling embryonic development, cell growth, morphogenesis, and tissue repair in animals. Furthermore, FGFs may have a role in angiogenesis and may be involved in tumor invasion and metastasis. Here, we present the cloning and sequence of human FGF-18, a novel member of the FGF family. Sequence comparison indicates that FGF-18 is conserved with the other FGFs and most homologous to FGF-8 among the FGF family members. We showed that human FGF-18 was expressed primarily in the heart, skeletal muscle, and pancreas, and at lower levels in the other tissues. FGF-18 was also expressed at low levels in certain cancer cell lines. FGF-18 contains a typical signal peptide and was secreted when it was transfected into mammalian cells. Recombinant FGF-18 protein stimulated proliferation in the fibroblast cell line NIH3T3 in a dose-dependent manner, suggesting that FGF-18 is a functional growth factor. Finally, the FGF-18 gene was evolutionarily conserved, and localized to human chromosome 14p11.