The role of VEGF during development and in pathology is well known, but its function in
normal adult tissues is poorly understood. Adverse effects associated with the use of anti-
angiogenic therapies targeting VEGF in human pathologies have begun to reveal potential
functions of VEGF in quiescent vasculature. Further clues from expression studies of VEGF
and its receptors in the adult, from the disease preeclampsia, and from experimental
neutralization studies, have suggested that VEGF is involved in endothelial cell survival and …