Rabbit polyclonal antibody to PDGF~B (L48)

PDGF is a mitogen for mesenchyme~ and glia~derived cells. It consists of two disulfide~bonded polypeptide chains, A and B, and occurs as three isoforms, PDGF AA, PDGF AB and PDGF BB. The three isoforms bind with different affinities to two receptor types, α and β, which are structurally related and endowed with protein~tyrosine kinase domains. Ligand binding induces activation of the receptor kinases by formation of receptor dimers; the A subunit of PDGF binds only to α receptors with high affinity, whereas the B subunit can bind to both α and β receptors. Evidence suggests that PDGF may function as a neurotrophic factor.