Acidic fibroblast growth factor is a potent mitogen for a variety of cells in culture, including vascular endothelial cells, and is angiogenic in vivo. The complete amino acid sequence of human brain-derived acidic fibroblast growth factor has been determined from amino terminal sequence analysis and carboxypeptidase A digestion of the whole protein and sequence analyses of peptides generated by tryptic, Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease and cyanogen bromide cleavages. A potential Asn-Gly-Ser glycosylation sequence is present in the human protein. The complete amino acid sequence is compared to that of the equivalent protein purified from bovine brain.