Anti-angiogenic drugs

[10g_DBA]

Angiogenesis, the growth of new capillary blood vessels in the body, is an important natural process in the body used for healing and reproduction. The body controls angiogenesis by producing a precise balance of growth and inhibitory factors in healthy tissues.

 

When this balance is disturbed, the result is either too much or too little angiogenesis. Abnormal blood vessel growth, either excessive or insufficient, is now recognized as a “common denominator” underlying many deadly and debilitating conditions, including cancer, skin diseases, age-related blindness, diabetic ulcers, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and many others. The list of diseases that have angiogenesis as an underlying mechanism grows longer every year.

 

All cancerous tumors, for example, release angiogenic growth factor proteins that stimulate blood vessels to grow into the tumor, providing it with oxygen and nutrients. Antiangiogenic therapies literally starve the tumor of its blood supply by interfering with this process. A new class of cancer treatments that block angiogenesis are now approved and available to treat cancers of the colon, kidney, lung, breast, and liver, as well as multiple myeloma and bone gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Some older drugs have been rediscovered to block angiogenesis, as well. These are being used to treatment angiogenesis-dependent conditions, such as hemangiomas, colon polyps, and precancerous skin lesions.

 

Source: http://www.angio.org/ua.php

Further explanation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angiogenesis_inhibitor

 

 

If it were your mom, your wife, your sister, or your daughter, you wouldn't want the FDA limiting access to anti-angiogenic treatments.

 

 

4:22

7:27

 

 

 

[BeeR]

Wow. Never expected a thread like this here.

 

I don't want the plodding FDA with its varying degrees of competence limiting access to anything, although I'd be fine with them throwing out warnings and caveats all over the place.

 

Related link:

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16443047

 

From what I gather, VEGF (protein that stimulates the formation of new blood vessels) inhibitors and the like show promise, but aren't effective on smaller tumors eg early mets, as those rely on diffusion.