Atherosclerosis and arterial restenosis are disease processes involving the accumulation of
vascular smooth muscle cells following vascular injury. Key events leading to these
processes are migration and proliferation of these cells. Here, we demonstrate that GAS6,
encoded by the growth arrest-specific gene 6, induces a directed migration (chemotaxis) of
both rat and human primary vascular smooth muscle cells while showing only marginal
mitogenic potential in human vascular smooth muscle cells. GAS6 stimulation induces Axl …