Recent Advances in Angiogenesis and ... - Bentham Science

single proangiogenic protein. However, in apparent contrast with this view, experiments with neutralizing
antibodies and other inhibitors demonstrated that blockade of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) alone
can substantially suppress tumor growth and angiogenesis in several models. Therefore, eventually other
angiogenic proteins may be expressed by a tumor in which only VEGF is inhibited and give the clinical
appearance of acquired “drug resistance”.
A clinical challenge in antiangiogenesis is the finding of biological markers that help to identify subsets of
patients more likely to respond to a given antiangiogenic therapy, as well as to determine optimal dosing of
therapy, to detect early clinical benefit or emerging resistances and to decide whether to change therapy in secondline
treatments.
An ideal angiogenesis inhibitor should be orally bioavailable with acceptable short-term and long-term toxicity
and have a clinically useful antitumor effect. Moreover, carefully constructed clinical trials with valid endpoints
need to be executed. Finally, cancer genomics and proteomics are likely to identify novel tumor-specific
endothelial targets and accelerate drug discovery. With the advent of specific and potent new agents, oncologists
have a variety of direct and indirect antiangiogenic agents to choose from when designing therapy protocols.
This book was undertaken to discuss the biological process and molecular mechanisms involved in angiogenesis
and to discuss some agents that have shown to inhibit angiogenesis. I express my gratitude to all my colleagues
who have contributed to this book.
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Domenico Ribatti
University of Bari