The strategy views blood vessel growth and inhibition as the linchpin in certain diseases. Stopping the growth of blood vessels from tumors, for instance, means there is no highway for metastasis, the spread of cancer from its primary site. On the other hand, increasing blood vessel growth can help ischemic, or blood-starved, hearts. They can mutate, become resistant to drugs and spread unpredictably despite the best modern treatments. Moreover, current methods to attack cancer cells, such as chemotherapy and radiation, can also damage healthy tissues and often cause serious side effects.
Angiogenesis is a process controlled by certain chemicals produced in the body.
These chemicals stimulate cells to repair damaged blood vessels or form new ones. Other chemicals, called angiogenesis inhibitors, signal the process to stop. It is a normal aspect of embryonic development, and a response to wounding. Cancers also stimulate angiogenesis, apparently in response to the high demand of rapidly multiplying cancer cells for oxygen and nourishment, which reach the cancer cells via the blood system. They will be conducted at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis., and the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.