Ramjaun Antoine R, Hodivala-Dilke Kairbaan
The Adhesion and Angiogenesis Laboratory, Department of Tumour Biology, Queen Mary's School of Medicine & Dentistry, London EC1M 6BQ, United Kingdom.
Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2009 Mar;41(3):521-30. doi: 10.1016/j.biocel.2008.05.030. Epub 2008 Aug 12.
Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels from pre-existing vasculature, is prevalent both during normal mammalian development and in certain pathological conditions such as tumor growth. It is stimulated and controlled by a complex network of intracellular signaling mechanisms, many of which are initiated by trans-membrane receptors transducing signals received from other cells and from the extracellular environment. Of these, cytokine signaling is recognized as one of the primary drivers of angiogenesis, but it has become increasingly evident that signaling mechanisms generated as a result of cell adhesion interactions are also crucially important. In addition, cell adhesion pathways are also intimately tied to cytokine signaling often making it difficult to dissect out the relative contribution of each to a particular angiogenic step. Many of these same signaling mechanisms are often manipulated by tumors to stimulate aberrant angiogenesis and enhance their blood supply. As a consequence, there is a great deal of interest in trying to understand the full complement of intracellular signaling pathways in angiogenesis as well as their interplay and timing during the process. Ultimately, understanding the complex network of signaling pathways that function during angiogenesis will provide important avenues for future therapeutic development.
血管生成，即从已有的脉管系统形成新的血管，在正常哺乳动物发育过程以及某些病理状况（如肿瘤生长）中都很普遍。它受到细胞内信号传导机制复杂网络的刺激和调控，其中许多机制由跨膜受体启动，这些受体转导从其他细胞和细胞外环境接收的信号。其中，细胞因子信号传导被认为是血管生成的主要驱动因素之一，但越来越明显的是，细胞黏附相互作用产生的信号传导机制也至关重要。此外，细胞黏附途径也与细胞因子信号传导密切相关，这常常使得难以剖析出它们各自对特定血管生成步骤的相对贡献。许多相同的信号传导机制常常被肿瘤利用，以刺激异常血管生成并增加其血液供应。因此，人们对试图了解血管生成中细胞内信号传导途径的完整组成及其在该过程中的相互作用和时间安排非常感兴趣。最终，了解血管生成过程中起作用的复杂信号传导途径网络将为未来的治疗发展提供重要途径。
