Department of Pulmonary Diseases, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Ther Adv Med Oncol. 2009 Sep;1(2):95-107. doi: 10.1177/1758834009338633.
A therapeutic plateau seems to have been reached with the standard treatment of cytotoxic chemotherapy alone for advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and new treatment options are urgently needed. Recent insight into the molecular biology of cancer has identified angiogenesis as one of the key biological processes. The major player in tumor angiogenesis is the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) pathway. VEGF is expressed in the majority of NSCLC and overexpression is associated with a poor prognosis. The VEGF pathway can be inhibited in two main ways: targeting VEGF directly or inhibiting the VEGF receptors. The development of angiogenesis inhibitors has shown great promise in the treatment of NSCLC. Bevacizumab, an anti-VEGF antibody, has been approved for the treatment of advanced NSCLC and other drugs are undergoing phase III investigation. However, a number of unresolved issues remain. In this review, we discuss the main angiogenesis inhibitors in development for the treatment of NSCLC focusing on the VEGF pathway.
对于晚期非小细胞肺癌（NSCLC）的标准治疗方法——细胞毒性化疗似乎已经达到了疗效平台期，因此急需新的治疗方案。最近，人们对癌症的分子生物学有了深入的了解，发现血管生成是关键的生物学过程之一。肿瘤血管生成的主要参与者是血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）通路。VEGF 在大多数 NSCLC 中表达，过表达与预后不良相关。VEGF 通路可以通过两种主要方式被抑制：直接靶向 VEGF 或抑制 VEGF 受体。血管生成抑制剂的开发在 NSCLC 的治疗中显示出了巨大的潜力。贝伐单抗，一种抗 VEGF 抗体，已被批准用于治疗晚期 NSCLC，其他药物正在进行 III 期研究。然而，仍有许多悬而未决的问题。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了正在开发的用于治疗 NSCLC 的主要血管生成抑制剂，重点介绍了 VEGF 通路。
