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

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Issue

Vol. 9 No. 1 (2013)

Section

Celebration of the Centennial of the Catalan Society for Biology, 1912–2012

License

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