molecules Article Comparison of the Interactions of Different Growth Factors and Glycosaminoglycans Fuming Zhang 1,* , Lanhong Zheng 2,3, Shuihong Cheng 2,4, Yanfei Peng 2,5, Li Fu 2, Xing Zhang 2,6 and Robert J. Linhardt 1,2,7,* 1 Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180, USA 2 Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180, USA;
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[email protected] (X.Z.) 3 School of Pharmacy, Shanghai University of Medicine & Health Sciences, Shanghai 201318, China 4 CAS Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China 5 College of Marine Life Sciences, Ocean University of China, 5 Yushan Road, Qingdao 266003, China 6 School of Food Science and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Normal University, Wenyuan Road 1, Nanjing 210023, China 7 Departments of Biology and Biomedical Engineering, Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180, USA * Correspondence:
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[email protected] (R.J.L.); Tel.: +1-518-276-3404 (R.J.L.) Received: 20 August 2019; Accepted: 11 September 2019; Published: 16 September 2019 Abstract: Most growth factors are naturally occurring proteins, which are signaling molecules implicated in cellular multiple functions such as proliferation, migration and differentiation under patho/physiological conditions by interacting with cell surface receptors and other ligands in the extracellular microenvironment.