Anti-Human TGF-α (T145-GRP)

Transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-α) is thought to be the major autocrine factor controlling growth in epidermal cells.1 It plays an important role in cell proliferation during embryogenesis.2 It also stimulates neural cell proliferation in the adult injured brain.3 TGF-alpha is an oncogenic growth factor which drives estrogen independent breast tumor proliferation via an autocrine loop.4 TGF-alpha which normally suppresses tumours can actually be used by cancer cells to enhance their ability to spread. It is present in high levels in around half of all breast tumours, and these tumours tend to be more aggressive and more likely to spread to the lungs. It has been shown that TGF-alpha can prompt breast cancer cells to make another cytokine called angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4), which helps the cells to spread through the bloodstream.5