angiogenesis

Mesothelioma, like other cancers, grows and spreads through a process of angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels.  Without a blood supply a mesothelioma tumor would starve and die.  Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a protein made by cells that stimulates new blood vessel formation.  Therefore, treatments that slow or stop VEGF in tumors can slow or stop the formation of blood vessels (“anti-angiogenesis”) and thereby halt the growth and spread of cancer. One type of VEGF is placenta growth factor (P1GF).  A recent study investigated whether P1GF is over expressed in mesothelioma.1   If it is this could present a new therapeutic target.  Specimens from twenty-seven patients with mesothelioma were compared with specimens from ten healthy patients.  The researchers…