A protein that stimulates new blood vessel growth — essential for wound healing, but also the molecule that enables tumors to grow their own blood supply and causes blindness in diabetic retinopathy.VEGF-A is the primary pro-angiogenic signal. In wound healing, VEGF promotes healing-appropriate vascularization. In wet AMD and proliferative diabetic retinopathy, pathological VEGF-driven neovascularization in the retina causes bleeding and vision loss — the target for anti-VEGF biologics. BPC-157 and GHK-Cu upregulate VEGF/VEGFR2 as part of their wound healing mechanisms. The same pathway that is therapeutic in one tissue context is pathological in another.