Tumor angiogenesis

Tumor angiogenesis describes the process by which tumors ensure their supply of oxygen and nutrients. Like healthy tissue, tumors also need oxygen and nutrients to grow. These are provided via blood vessels . At the beginning (up to a maximum diameter of a few millimeters) the oxygen and nutrients are supplied by diffusion . Since diffusion over long distances is very inefficient, the tumor needs a blood vessel supply for its further growth. In a process called an "angiogenic switch", the tumor begins to produce blood vessel growth factors (mainly VEGF-A ), to which the adjacent blood vessels respond by growing in the direction of the tumor and into the tumor.

history

Tumor angiogens were first explicitly described in 1939. The concept that tumor growth dependency could be used for therapy was first formulated in 1971 by Judah Folkman . However, it took over 30 years for a first anti-cancer drug ( bevacizumab , developed by Genentech under the direction of Napoleone Ferrara ) to become available to treat patients whose mechanism of action is antiangiogenesis .

Individual evidence

1. ^ AG Ide, NH Baker, SL Warren: Vascularization of the Brown Pearce rabbit epithelioma transplant as seen in the transparent ear chamber . In: Am J Roentgenol . 42, 1939, pp. 891-899.
2. ^ Judah Folkman: Tumor Angiogenesis: Therapeutic Implications . In: New England Journal of Medicine . 285, No. 21, 1971, ISSN  0028-4793 , pp. 1182-1186. doi : 10.1056 / NEJM197111182852108 . PMID 4938153 . Retrieved April 8, 2013.
3. ↑ Napoleone Ferrara, Kenneth J Hillan, William Novotny: Bevacizumab (Avastin), a humanized anti-VEGF monoclonal antibody for cancer therapy . In: Biochemical and biophysical research communications . 333, No. 2, July 29, 2005, ISSN  0006-291X , pp. 328-335. doi : 10.1016 / j.bbrc.2005.05.132 . PMID 15961063 .

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