Anti-angiogenic therapy for cancer and the mechanisms of tumor resistance Authors Gabriela Jiménez-Valerio Tumor Angiogenesis Group, Catalan Institute of Oncology-Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute, Barcelona, Catalonia Oriol Casanovas Tumor Angiogenesis Group, Catalan Institute of Oncology-Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute, Barcelona, Catalonia Abstract Tumor progression requires the activation of neovascularization, or angiogenesis, a process orchestrated by tumor and by stromal cells within the tumor mass. In the therapeutic targeting of angiogenesis, the aim is to inhibit tumor growth and progression. Indeed, anti-angiogenic therapy is currently used in several types of cancer. Nevertheless, both the tumor cells and the stromal components may be variably resistant to anti-angiogenic therapy, demonstrating refractoriness, or intrinsic resistance, on the one hand, and acquired resistance, gained progressively during treatment, on the other. Several strategies have been proposed to overcome both types of resistance but they remain to be tested in preclinical studies and clinical trials.Keywords: anti-angiogenic therapy · tumor cells · stromal cells · intrinsic resistance · acquired resistance Author Biography Gabriela Jiménez-Valerio, Tumor Angiogenesis Group, Catalan Institute of Oncology-Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute, Barcelona, Catalonia Tumor Angiogenesis Group, Catalan Institute of Oncology-Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute, Barcelona, Catalonia Downloads PDF Issue Vol. 9 No. 1 (2013) Section Celebration of the Centennial of the Catalan Society for Biology, 1912–2012 License This work is subject, unless the contrary is indicated in the text, the photographs or in other illustrations, to an Attribution —Non-Commercial— No Derivative Works 3.0 Creative Commons License, the full text of which can be consulted at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. You are free to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work provided that the author is credited and reuse of the material is restricted to non-commercial purposes only and that no derivative works are created from the original material.
