Growth factors in pregnancy.

The role of growth factors in pregnancy is a rapidly expanding subject. With the advent of molecular biological techniques more and more detailed information is available to the researcher. This review does not attempt to be exhaustive in its coverage of growth factors in pregnancy, rather it tries to give a brief taste of the possible roles that they may play in pregnancy by considering three specific factors, leukaemia inhibitory factor, colony stimulating factor-1 and vascular endothelial growth factor.