Abstract
The discovery of endogenous inhibitors of angiogenesis has made it possible to test the hypothesis that blocking the angiogenic switch may keep tumor growth in check, and has added a new investigational arm to the field of cancer gene therapy. Angiogenesis inhibitors are heterogeneous in origin and potency, and their growing list includes proteolysis products of larger molecules with a different function, such as angiostatin, endostatin and vasostatin, modulators of vascular endothelial growth factor activity, such as sFLT-1, and some cytokines/chemokines with marked anti-endothelial activity, such as IL-12, IFN-α, and CXCL10. Pre-clinical studies have clearly indicated that these factors are essentially cytostatic and that they need long-term administration in order to obtain prolonged anti-tumor effects, representing a rational basis for their delivery by a gene therapy approach. The experimental approaches attempted to date, reviewed herein, indicate overall that anti-angiogenic gene therapy has efficacy mainly as an early intervention strategy and that a better understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying resistance to angiogenesis inhibition, as well as appropriate combined treatments, are required to generate a conceptual advancement which could drive the field towards successful management of established tumors.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 87-114 |
Number of pages | 28 |
Journal | Molecular Aspects of Medicine |
Volume | 28 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Feb 2007 |
Keywords
- Angiogenesis
- Angiostatin
- Cancer
- Endostatin
- Gene therapy
- Interferon
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biochemistry
- Molecular Biology
- Molecular Medicine