Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 10, Issue 1, 2004

The field of angiogenesis modulation is at a major crossroad. A tremendous advancement in basic science in this field is providing an excellent support for the concept, which is in contrast to a lack of strong clinical support to date. With regard to the large gap between experimental data and clinical data, the best model of human malignancy is in human cancer patients and the best model of human ocular angiogenesis-m Read More

The induction of neoangiogenesis is a critical step already present at the early stages of tumor development and dissemination. The progressive identification of molecules playing a relevant role in neoangiogenesis has fostered the development of a wide variety of new selective agents. Antiangiogenic drugs should be integrated with conventional therapies; however, the design of the best sequence and timing for such co Read More

Angiogenesis, the formation of blood vessels from preexisting ones, plays a crucial role in tumor progression. Activation of an “angiogenic switch” allows tumor cells to invade and metastasize. The growing interest in the use of antiangiogenic agents in the treatment and prevention of cancer lies in the theoretical advantages of this molecularly targeted modality of chemotherapy. Delivery of antiangiogenic agents are not com Read More

The urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) system consists of the serine protease uPA, its glycolipid-anchored receptor, uPAR and its 2 serpin inhibitors, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) and plasminogen activator inhibitor- 2 (PAI-2). Recent findings suggest that the uPA system is causally involved at multiple steps in cancer progression. In particular, uPA has been implicated in remodelling of the extracellular matri Read More

The number of anti-angiogenic agents developed for clinical use has risen greatly over the past decade. Currently, more than 80 are in trials ranging from phase I through to phase III studies and many more are in preclinical evaluation. Much hope was envisaged for these new agents to become the panacea of anti-tumoural treatment. Unfortunately the single agent activity to date has proven to be disappointing althoug Read More

The dysfunction or proliferation of lymphatic vessels (lymphangiogenesis) is linked to a number of pathological conditions including lymphedema and cancer. The recent discovery and characterisation of the lymphangiogenic growth factors vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) and VEGF-D and of their receptor on lymphatic endothelial cells, VEGFR-3, has provided an understanding of the molecular mechanisms cont Read More

Studies on the lymphatic endothelium have been hampered by the difficulty to identify lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) and to distinguish them from blood vascular endothelial cells (BECs). The situation was greatly improved by the identification of molecules with high specificity for LECs. A great deal of progress in the field of lymphangiogenesis research has been due to the detection of lymphangiogenic growth factors and Read More