Vascular targeting--a new approach to the therapy of solid tumors.

An attractive approach to the therapy of solid tumors is to attack the endothelial cells of the tumor vascular bed rather than the tumor cells themselves, which circumvents the problem of poor penetration of tumor masses by monoclonal antibodies and other macromolecules. In this review, we will discuss the drawbacks of targeting solid tumors and the advantages of the 'vascular targeting' approach, describe the validation of the concept in a mouse model and summarize the properties of tumor endothelial cell markers, which are candidates for vascular targeting in humans.