The discovery of angiogenesis inhibitors: A new class of drugs
Presented on June 15, 2001 by Dr. Judah Folkman, Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School
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"As a surgeon I had seen tumors and handled them, and saw that the blood vessels converging on the tumor by the thousands&appeared to be new. But once the tumor is removed from the body, it is cold, bloodless, and under the microscope its tiny blood vessels may be collapsed. The tumor specimen the pathologist sees is different, in this respect, than the live tumor handled by the surgeon ...I kept saying to myself, "I have seen this [tumor neovascularization] personally, and eventually others will see it also."
quote by Judah Folkman
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The process of angiogenesis--the growth of new capillary blood vessels--is now recognized as a powerful control point in cancer. The hypothesis that tumors are angiogenesis-dependent has been confirmed by genetic methods and has stimulated angiogenesis research in many laboratories. As a result, angiogenesis inhibitors have emerged as a new class of drugs. Among the most potent and least toxic of the angiogenesis inhibitors are certain proteins in the body such as endostatin and angiostatin and others. This lecture will focus on how these proteins were discovered.
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Lecture Video
Pre-Lecture Video
Lecture transcript
- Part 1 - What is Angiogenesis? The Angiogenic Process, Presentation of Slides
- Part 2 - Oncogenes / Suppressor Genes
- Part 3 - Angiogenic vs Non-Angiogenic Tumor Cells, Genetic Regulation of Cancer
- Part 4 - Clinical Experiences with Angiogenesis Inhibitors
About Judah Folkman
Medical Terminology
More about this lecture:
The process of angiogenesis, i.e., growth of new capillary blood vessels, is now recognized as a powerful control point in cancer. The hypothesis that tumors are angiogenesis-dependent has been confirmed by genetic methods. This hypothesis has stimulated angiogenesis research in many laboratories. As a result, angiogenesis inhibitors have emerged as a new class of drugs. These drugs generally turn off the proliferation or migration of microvascular endothelial cells which generate new blood vessels and which are recruited by a tumor. Thus, the endothelial cell has become an important second target in cancer therapy. This is the rationale for the proposal that treating both the cancer cell and the endothelial cell in a tumor may be more effective than treating the cancer cell alone. Currently there are clinical trials with combinations of an angiogenesis inhibitor plus cytotoxic chemotherapy as well as clinical trials with an angiogenesis inhibitor plus radiotherapy. Furthermore, novel angiogenesis centers in the U.S., as well as in other centers in the U.K. and in Europe. Angiogenesis inhibitors are also being studied to treat non-neoplastic diseases, such as macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, where blood vessels grow in the eye. Among the most potent and least toxic of the angiogenesis inhibitors are certain proteins in the body such as endostatin and angiostatin and others. This lecture will focus on how these proteins were discovered.
For reviews see:
- Folkman J. Tumor angiogenesis. In: Holland JF, Frei E III, Bast RC Jr., Kufe DW, Pollock RE, Weichselbaum RR, eds. Cancer Medicine, 5th Edition, B.C. Decker Inc., Ontario, Canada 2000; pp 132-152.
- Folkman J. Angiogenesis. In: Braunwald E., Fauci AS, Kasper DL, Hauser SL, Longo DL, Jameson JL (eds.). Harrison's Textbook of Internal Medicine, 15th Edition, New York, N.Y. McGraw-Hill, 2001; pp 517-530.
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