iBet uBet web content aggregator. Adding the entire web to your favor.
iBet uBet web content aggregator. Adding the entire web to your favor.



Link to original content: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19761418/
VEGF as an inhibitor of tumor vessel maturation: implications for cancer therapy - PubMed Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2009 Nov;9(11):1347-56.
doi: 10.1517/14712590903208883.

VEGF as an inhibitor of tumor vessel maturation: implications for cancer therapy

Joshua I Greenberg  1 , David A Cheresh
Affiliations
Review

VEGF as an inhibitor of tumor vessel maturation: implications for cancer therapy

Joshua I Greenberg et al. Expert Opin Biol Ther. 2009 Nov.

Abstract

Tumor angiogenesis is an important component of cancer biology driven in part by the thesis that inhibition of tumor vessel growth would be expected to starve and thereby disrupt tumor growth. A significant portion of research on tumor angiogenesis has focused on VEGF and its blockade with the expectation that dramatic results would be demonstrated in cancer patients as previously documented in animal models. However, to date, anti-VEGF (bevacizumab, Avastin) therapy alone has demonstrated little if any antitumor activity or survival benefit in humans. Interestingly, bevacizumab in combination with chemotherapeutic agents appears to result in a modest survival benefit in patients with various malignancies. This has prompted the re-evaluation of the biological effects resulting from VEGF blockade. Recent reports indicate that inhibition of VEGF and its receptor can have dramatic and unexpected effects on mural and perivascular cells in the tumor microenvironment, leading to vascular smooth muscle cell/pericyte activation and vessel normalization/maturation. Specifically, when VEGF levels in tumors are high, recent studies suggest that this leads to reduced responsiveness of the mural cell to the related growth factor, platelet-derived growth factor. This raises the possibility that in addition to the demonstrated anti-angiogenic effect of VEGF neutralization, mural cell recruitment and thus vascular maturation might be among the most critical activities of anti-VEGF agents. This review seeks to explore how VEGF blockade impacts tumor vascular maturation and considers its implications for cancer therapy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources