Ellis Lee M
Department of Cancer Biology and Surgical Oncology, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, 444 Houston, Texas 77030-4009, USA.
Am Surg. 2003 Jan;69(1):3-10.
The realization that the growth and spread of tumors are dependent on angiogenesis has created new avenues of research designed to help us to better understand cancer biology and to facilitate the development of new therapeutic strategies. However, the process of angiogenesis consists of multiple sequential and interdependent steps with a myriad of positive and negative regulators of angiogenesis being involved. The survival of tumors and thus their metastases are dependent on the balance of endogenous angiogenic and antiangiogenic factors such that the outcome favors increased angiogenesis. Several growth factors have been identified that regulate angiogenesis in colon cancer; the most important of these is vascular endothelial growth factor. In addition, specific integrins such as alphavbeta3 and alpha5beta1 mediate endothelial cell survival and have been shown to be overexpressed on the endothelium of colon cancer. These angiogenic mediators thus serve as targets for therapy of metastatic colon cancer and have shown promise in preclinical trials.
肿瘤的生长和扩散依赖于血管生成这一认识开辟了新的研究途径，旨在帮助我们更好地理解癌症生物学并促进新治疗策略的开发。然而，血管生成过程由多个连续且相互依存的步骤组成，涉及无数血管生成的正负调节因子。肿瘤的存活及其转移取决于内源性血管生成因子和抗血管生成因子的平衡，结果有利于血管生成增加。已鉴定出几种调节结肠癌血管生成的生长因子；其中最重要的是血管内皮生长因子。此外，特定的整合素，如αvβ3和α5β1，介导内皮细胞存活，并已证实在结肠癌内皮上过度表达。这些血管生成介质因此成为转移性结肠癌治疗的靶点，并在临床前试验中显示出前景。
