EGF is a member of the epidermal growth factor superfamily.

EGF acts a potent mitogenic factor that plays an important role in the growth, proliferation and differentiation of numerous cell types. EGF acts by binding with high affinity to the cell surface receptor, epidermal growth factor receptor. Defects in this gene are the cause of hypomagnesemia type 4. Dysregulation of this gene has been associated with the growth and progression of certain cancers. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants, at least one of which encodes a preproprotein that is proteolytically processed.

The exons 20-21 of mouse Egf gene were replaced by human EGF exons 20-21 in B-hEGF mice.

Gene targeting strategy for B-hEGF mice. The exons 20-21 of mouse Egf gene were replaced by human EGF exons 20-21(generate the 53-amino acid epidermal growth factor peptide) in B-hEGF mice.

Human EGF expression analysis in homozygous B-hEGF mice by ELISA. Serum were isolated from wild-type C57BL/6 mice (+/+) and homozygous B-hEGF mice (H/H) and analyzed by ELISA with human EGF ELISA kit. Normal levels of human EGF expression can be detected in homozygous B-hEGF mice. However, lower levels of expression can also detected in WT mice. The ELISA kit may have a cross-reaction with mice.