- Blood vessels are comprised
of cells called endothelial cells. The total surface area covered
by these cells in an adult is 1000 m2 -- roughly the size of a tennis
court.
- If all the blood vessels
in the body were lined up end-to-end, they would form a line that could
circle the earth twice.
- Blood vessel cells do not
normally grow in the healthy adult they are normally inactive, or
quiescent.
- There are at least 20 different known angiogenic
growth factors.
- Five angiogenic growth
factors are being tested in humans for growing new blood vessels to
heal wounds and to restore blood flow to the heart, limbs, and brain.
- Angiogenic gene therapy
is also being developed as a method to deliver angiogenic growth factors
to the heart, limbs, and wounds.
- There are at least 30 known
natural angiogenesis inhibitors found in the body.
- The first angiogenesis inhibitor
molecule was discovered in 1975 by Dr. Judah Folkman and Dr. Henry Brem
in a study of cartilage.
- Angiogenesis inhibitors
have been discovered from natural sources, including tree bark, fungi,
shark muscle and cartilage, sea coral, green tea, and herbs (licorice,
ginseng, cumin, garlic).
- In total, more than 300
angiogenesis inhibitors have been discovered to date.
- At least 184 million patients
in Western nations could benefit from some form of antiangiogenic therapy.
- At least 314 million patients
in Western nations would benefit from some form of angiogenesis-stimulating
(pro-angiogenic) therapy.
- The first successful treatment
of an angiogenesis-dependent disease occurred in 1989, when the drug
interferon alfa2a, an angiogenesis inhibitor, was used to regress the
abnormal blood vessels growing in the lungs of a boy with a benign disease
called pulmonary hemangiomatosis.
- Some cancer patients have
experienced dramatic regression of their tumors from antiangiogenic therapy;
others have experienced stabilization of their disease.
- More than 2,000 patients
with heart disease have received some form of experimental angiogenic
therapy.
- The first FDA-approved device
to stimulate new blood vessels to grow in diseased hearts is a laser
used in a technique called Direct Myocardial Revascularization, or DMR
(sometimes called transmyocardial revascularization, TMR).
- The first FDA-approved blood
vessel therapy for eye disease is a type of photodynamic therapy called
Visudyne (QLT Therapeutics/CibaVision), which has shown effectiveness
for treating macular degeneration.
- The first angiogenesis-stimulating
medicine is a prescription gel called Regranex (recombinant human platelet-derived
growth factor-BB, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals) that became FDA-approved
to heal diabetic foot ulcers in December 1997.
- More than $4 billion has
been invested in the research and development angiogenesis-based medicines,
making this one of the most heavily funded areas of medical research
in human history.
Last updated June 23, 2009
References:
Folkman J. Tumor angiogenesis, in Harrision’s Texbook of Internal Medicine, 15th ed. Braunwald E, Fauci AS, Kasper DL, et al., eds. McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, 2000 pp.132-152.
Li W. Tumor angiogenesis: molecular pathology, therapeutic targeting and imaging. Acad Radiol 2000;7:800-811.
Li WW, Li VW, Casey R, et al. Clinical trials of angiogenesis-based therapies: overview and new guiding principles, in Angiogenesis: Models, Modulators and Clinical Application. Maragoudakis M, ed. Plenum Press, New York, NY 1998, pp.475-492.
Li WW, Li VW and Tsakayannis D. Emerging concepts and lessons from clinical trials of angiotherapy. The New Angiotherapy (TP Fan and EC Kohn, Editors) Humana Press, 2001, p. 547-571.
Market Study and Analysis of Angiogensis-dependent Diseases. Cambridge: The Angiogenesis Foundation, Third Edition, 2001.
White CW, Sondheimer HM, Crouch EC, et al. Treatment of pulmonary hemangiomatosis with recombinant interferon alpha-2a. N Engl J Med 1992;326:1456-1463
|
