VEGFA and Stroke: However, the VEGF signaling pathway is critically important in physiological ischemia-driven angiogenesis as well as other biological functions (e.g., regulation of blood pressure, activation of the coagulation cascade, and regulation of myelopoiesis [113,114,115,116]) so non-specific inhibition of VEGF in all pathophysiological contexts leads to side effects including: bleeding, vessel clots (leading to stroke or heart attack), proteinuria, severe weight loss, hypertension, diarrhea, nausea gastrointestinal perforations, and reduced wound healing [6,7,117,118].