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Medical Definition of Transforming growth factor alpha
1. Factor isolated in a variety of tissues including epithelium, and maternal decidua. It is closely related to epidermal growth factor (epidermal growth factor-urogasterone) and binds to the egf receptor. Tgf-alpha acts synergistically with tgf-beta in inducing phenotypic transformation, but its physiological role is unknown. (12 Dec 1998)