Synthetic Antiangiogenic Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor—A Splice Variant Revascularizes Ischemic Muscle in Peripheral Artery Disease

Our data shows that the KD residues regulate VEGF₁₆₅b's VEGFR1 inhibitory property but not VEGFR2. Switching these KD residues to RR resulted in the formation of a synthetic/recombinant VEGF₁₆₅b_KD→RR isoform that has the ability to activate both VEGFR1- and VEGFR2-signaling and induce ischemic-endothelial cell angiogenic and proliferative capacity that matched the angiogenic requirement necessary to achieve perfusion recovery in a severe experimental-peripheral artery disease model.