Skip Navigation


Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology Advance Access originally published online on June 16, 2009
Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology 2009 39(9):543-551; doi:10.1093/jjco/hyp062
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
39/9/543    most recent
hyp062v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Iwasaki, J.
Right arrow Articles by Nihira, S.-i.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Iwasaki, J.
Right arrow Articles by Nihira, S.-i.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?


© The Author (2009). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved

Anti-angiogenic Therapy Against Gastrointestinal Tract Cancers

Junko Iwasaki and Shin-ichi Nihira

Chugai Pharmaceutical Company, Ltd, Tokyo, Japan

For reprints and all correspondence: Junko Iwasaki, Lifecycle Management Unit, Chugai Pharmaceutical Company, Ltd, 2-1-1 Nihonbashi-Muromachi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-8324, Japan. E-mail: jiwasaki{at}chugai-pharm.co.jp

Received January 15, 2009; accepted May 18, 2009

Gastrointestinal tract cancers constitute a group of highest morbidity both in and outside Japan, and the prognosis still remains unfavorable when the disease has progressed to the unresectable stage. Since the late 1990s, a novel category of anti-cancer drugs, ‘molecular-targeted drugs’, has become available, and angiogenesis has been considered as one of the most important molecular targets for antitumor therapy since it is essential for tumor growth. Anti-angiogenic therapy inhibits tumor angiogenesis and promotes apoptosis of existing tumor blood vessels, thereby intercepting the supply of oxygen and nutrition essential for tumor growth and metastasis. It was also suggested that anti-angiogenic therapy effectively normalizes abnormal vascular permeability, and thereby decreases the interstitial pressure, which may improve delivery of concomitantly used chemotherapeutic agents to tumor cells. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) acts as one of the most potent stimulating agents of angiogenesis, and several strategies targeting the VEGF signaling pathway have been developed, including anti-VEGF antibodies, soluble receptors binding directly to VEGF ligand, anti-VEGF receptor (VEGFR) antibodies and VEGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors. The breakthrough in the clinical development of anti-angiogenic therapy against colorectal cancer came in 2003 with a large prospective, randomized clinical trial of bevacizumab, a monoclonal antibody directed against VEGF. Anti-angiogenic therapy has introduced a highly effective, completely new mode of action in this area and is the new standard of care in advanced colorectal cancer, while still being tested in gastric cancer due to its convincing clinical benefit and its tolerability and combinability with multiple chemotherapeutic agents.

Key Words: angiogenesis • VEGF • bevacizumab • colorectal cancer • gastric cancer


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.