In a study published in the February issue of The Journal of Urology , Judah Folkman, the Julia Dyckman Andrus professor of pediatric surgery at Children's Hospital, and his colleagues show that patients with prostate cancer or BPH have increased evidence of angiogenic activity in their urine compared with healthy men of similar age.
Angiogenesis is the process by which new blood vessels are formed from pre-existing capillaries.
Angiogenic activity in vivo is a balance between factors that promote and those that inhibit new blood vessel formation. But in BPH and prostate cancer patients, urinary angiogenic activity was significantly higher than in the controls. These data led the researchers to hypothesize that the development of BPH may be partly angiogenesis dependent. After Bone Marrow Transplant, Glutamine Supplements May Boost Immunity Patients with bone marrow transplants face many dangers. Even intravenous delivery of nutrients can cause infection in such patients.