Angiostatin and Endostatin

Dateline: 05/28/98

In a previous article, entitled The Cancer Stopper III, we discussed the announcement by officials at the U. S. National Cancer Institute of the development of two new drugs: angiostatin and endostatin. The drugs prevented cancer in mice by halting tumor growth and stopping the formation of new blood vessels in these tumors. In order for the tumor cells to grow, they must first induce the creation of new blood vessels--a process called angiogenesis. Both drugs prevented new blood vessels from forming, thus starving the tumors.

Last week, researchers at several universities announced that these angiogenesis inhibitors could possibly be used to fight a variety of ailments and illnesses including arthritis, glaucoma, and diabetes.

Because excessive growth of blood vessels contributes to the severity of these illnesses, scientists hope that the angiogenesis inhibitors could also be used to slow down this vessel growth, thus reducing or eliminating some of the serious effects of the diseases caused by the blood vessel growth.

A drug that controls the angiogenetic process could also be used to encourage blood vessel growth. For instance, in diabetics, wounds tend to heal slowly because blood vessel growth is severely retarded. By encouraging blood vessel growth in diabetics with an angiogenesis activator, the wounds would heal faster.

Interestingly enough, there is also a possible correlation between obesity and angiogenesis. Some scientists have speculated that obese people have an excessive blood supply to fat deposit cells. By reducing this blood supply, one could theoretically limit the excessive accumulation of fat deposits.

With all of the media hype surrounding angiostatin and endostatin, scientists caution that the substances must be rigorously tested in humans before effects can be gauged. Most remain optimistic about the possible outcomes.

What do you think? What other diseases and/or ailments might have an angiogenetic connection? Come on over to the Biology Forum and share your thoughts, opinions and feelings.

For additional information see:

• Angiogenesis Research May Lead To Treatments For Many Diseases
  
• ScienceDaily report about the study.