Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 12, Issue 21, 2006

Angiogenesis is a process of new vessels formation from preexisting vasculature. This process is important in organ development during embryogenesis and less significant for the physiology of adult organisms. However, pathological angiogenesis has been observed in many diseases and is starting to be considered as a pharmaceutical target for therapy. A major effort has been initiated in developing angiostatic drugs Read More

High molecular weight kininogen (HK) is a plasma protein that is cleaved by plasma kallikrein in the clinical settings of sepsis and chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease. This proteolytic event results in a nonapeptide, bradykinin (BK), and a kinin-free derivative of HK, namely HKa. BK promotes angiogenesis by upregulation of bFGF through the B1 receptor or by stimulation o Read More

Both blood vessels and nerves are guided to their tissue targets by "specific" growth factors such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and nerve growth factor (NGF), originally discovered as growth factors specific for endothelial and neuronal cells, respectively. While the eminent role of VEGF in the formation of new blood vessels (angiogenesis) is unquestioned, recent studies indicate that VEGF also has direct effects on t Read More

In the past decade, many angiogenesis inhibitors have been developed for clinical use in oncology. Surgeons, radiotherapists as well as medical oncologists have been investigating with much effort and enthusiasm the translation of these agents from the preclinical setting into treatment strategies of patients. Recently, for the first time in history, the angiogenesis inhibitor bevacizumab (avastin), a humanized anti-vascular Read More

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic disabling autoimmune inflammatory disease of unknown aetiology with a prevalence of about 1%in most parts of the world. As a result of the debilitating nature of the disease, sufferers struggle with the simple activities of daily living and frequently fail to remain in full time employment. Furthermore, the mortality associated with the disease is equivalent to that seen in triple vessel coro Read More

Neovascularization is a common and potentially visually threatening complication of eye diseases such as diabetic retinopathy (DR) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). An antiangiogenic therapy is aimed at inhibiting the growth of new blood vessels and should prevent onset or progression of neovascularization. Accumulated evidence indicates that growth factors, endothelial cell surface receptors, and extracell Read More

Tumor angiogenesis imaging should provide non-invasive assays of tumor vascular characteristics to supplement the now conventional diagnostic imaging goals of depicting tumor location, size, and morphology. This article will review the current status of angiogenesis imaging approaches, considering ultrasound, CT, MR, SPECT, PET and optical techniques with attention to their respective capabilities and limitations. As a gro Read More

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) is a key mediator of oxygen homeostasis that was first identified as a transcription factor that is induced and activated by decreased oxygen tension. Upon activation, HIF-1 upregulates the transcription of genes that promote adaptation and survival under hypoxic conditions. HIF-1 is a heterodimer composed of an oxygen-regulated subunit known as HIF-1α and a constitutively expressed HI Read More

Hemopoietic colony stimulating factors (HCSFs) are naturally occurred substances that are released in response to infection or inflammation and regulate the proliferation and differentiation of hemopoietic progenitor cells. Some representative members of this peptide family induce atherogenesis through the mediation of monocyte-endothelial cell adhesive interaction and promotion of angiogenesis within the athero Read More

Introduction: Despite the increasing body of published reports on pharmacological interventions in Huntington's disease (HD), an evidence based review (EBR) of treatment studies has not yet been published. Method: Systematic literature searches were done using Medline (1965 - August 2005), the central database in the Cochrane Library (1969 - August 2005), and reference lists published in review articles and other clini Read More