KDR and hereditary elliptocytosis: Our data from immunofluorescence, PCR, western blot and gain-of-function or loss-of-function experiments demonstrated that VEGF, acting via VEGFR2, plays a protective role in both our cell and animal models of HE using primary hippocampal neurons and C57BL/6 and heterozygous or wild-type VEGFR2 mice.