Mammalian cells that express VEGF-D polypeptides

1. An isolated mammalian cell transformed or transfected with a nucleic acid that encodes a polypeptide with a VEGF-D amino acid sequence consisting of amino acids 93-201 of SEQ ID NO: 5, said cell expressing the polypeptide,

wherein the polypeptide has at least one activity selected from the group consisting of stimulation of endothelial cell proliferation, stimulation of vascular permeability, binding to the extracellular domain of VEGFR-2, and binding to the extracellular domain of VEGFR-3.

2. The isolated mammalian cell according to claim 1 , wherein the polypeptide is linked to an octapeptide epitope tag available under the trade name FLAG®.

3. An isolated mammalian cell transformed or transfected with a nucleic acid that encodes a polypeptide that consists of an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of amino acids 101-196 or SEQ ID NO:5 and amino acids 92-205 of SEQ ID NO:5, said cell expressing the [VEGF-D] polypeptide, and

wherein the [VEGF-D] polypeptide has at least one VEGF-D activity selected from the group consisting of stimulation of endothelial cell proliferation, stimulation of vascular permeability, binding to the extracellular domain of VEGFR-2, and binding to the extracellular domain of VEGFR-3.

4. An expression vector with a nucleic acid insert consisting of a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide consisting of amino acids 93-201 of SEQ ID NO: 1, and a promoter operably linked to the nucleic acid insert, wherein said promoter is capable of promoting expression of the polypeptide in a mammalian cell.

5. A vector comprising:

a nucleic acid insert encoding a IL-3 signal sequence attached to a fragment of SEQ ID NO: 5 including amino acids 93-201 of SEQ ID NO: 5, wherein the fragment has at least one VEGF-D activity selected from the group consisting of stimulation of endothelial cell proliferation, stimulation of vascular permeability, binding to the extracellular domain of VEGFR-2, and binding to the extracellular domain of VEGFR-3.

6. The vector of claim 5 , further comprising a promoter operably linked to the nucleic acid insert, wherein said promoter is capable of promoting expression of the fragment in a cell.

7. The vector of claim 6 , wherein the cell in a human cell.

8. The vector of claim 5 , wherein the fragment of SEQ ID NO: 5 is selected from the group consisting of amino acids 92-205 of SEQ ID NO: 5 and amino acids 93-201 of SEQ ID NO: 5.

9. The vector of claim 5 , wherein the vector is an adenovirus vector or a retrovirus vector.

10. An isolated host cell transformed or transfected with the vector of claim 5 .

11. The host cell of claim 10 that is an insect cell.

12. The host cell of claim 10 that is a human cell.

13. A composition comprising the vector of claim 5 or the host cell of claim 10 and a pharmaceutically-acceptable carrier or adjuvant.