What is VEGF and what does it do in angiogenesis?
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a signaling protein. Its main form, VEGF-A, is the principal signal that switches angiogenesis on. Cells that are short of oxygen release it, and it draws new vessels toward the tissue that needs them. Losing half of normal VEGF-A is fatal to the embryo. Drugs that block VEGF, such as bevacizumab and anti-VEGF eye injections, are used in some cancers and in wet macular degeneration.
Answer
For the biology, see [2]. For the drug that binds VEGF-A, see [3]. For the use of anti-VEGF injections in wet AMD, see [5].
Stem cells in cosmetic surgery
In cosmetic surgery, "stem cell" procedures almost always use adipose-derived stem cells. The stromal vascular fraction (SVF), which contains them, is separated from liposuctioned fat and mixed into the fat being grafted, as in stem cell breast augmentation and stem cell fat grafting.
Sources
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- journalOverview of Angiogenesis (in: Adair TH, Montani JP. Angiogenesis) — Morgan & Claypool Life Sciences / NCBI Bookshelf · accessed Nov 10, 2026 · Evidence page
- journalBevacizumab (StatPearls) — StatPearls Publishing / NCBI Bookshelf · accessed Nov 10, 2026 · Evidence page
- journalTumor Angiogenesis (editorial), Dudek AZ, Gupta K, Ramakrishnan S, Mukhopadhyay D. Journal of Oncology — Journal of Oncology (Hindawi) · accessed Nov 10, 2026 · Evidence page
- governmentTreatments for Wet AMD (Advanced Neovascular AMD) — National Eye Institute (NIH) · accessed Nov 10, 2026 · Evidence page
- journalTherapeutic Angiogenesis for Peripheral Artery Disease: Lessons Learned in Translational Science, Iyer SR, Annex BH — JACC: Basic to Translational Science · accessed Nov 10, 2026 · Evidence page
- journalCell-Assisted Lipotransfer for Cosmetic Breast Augmentation: Supportive Use of Adipose-Derived Stem/Stromal Cells, Yoshimura K et al. — Aesthetic Plastic Surgery · accessed Nov 10, 2026 · Evidence page
- journalAdipose-Derived Stem Cell, Stromal Vascular Fraction, and Regenerative Cell Enrichment in Fat Grafting: A Systematic Review of Safety and Functional Outcomes — Cureus (PubMed Central) · accessed Nov 10, 2026 · Evidence page