blood vessel growth

(NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences) Recent findings in mice suggest that blocking the production of small molecules produced in the body, known as epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs), may represent a novel strategy for treating cancer by eliminating the blood vessels that feed cancer tumors.

This research is the first to show that EETs work in concert with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a protein known to induce blood vessel growth.

Together, EETs and VEGF promote metastasis, or the spread of cancer.

(Ohio State University Medical Center) A new fourth-generation oncolytic virus designed to both kill cancer cells and inhibit blood-vessel growth has shown greater effectiveness than earlier versions when tested in animal models.

The virus is being developed as a treatment for glioblastoma, the most common and deadly form of brain cancer.

The new virus improved survival of mice with transplanted human glioblastoma tumors by 50 percent in a majority of cases compared with the previous-generation oncolytic virus.

(H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute) A new and better understanding of blood vessel growth and vascular development (angiogenesis) in cancer has been made possible by research carried out by a team of scientists from Moffitt Cancer Center, the University of Florida, Harvard University, Yale University and the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles.

(Tufts University, Health Sciences) A study shows promise in slowing age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Tufts researchers demonstrate for the first time that a gene therapy approach to deliver CD59, an inhibitor of complement, can significantly reduce uncontrolled blood vessel growth and cell death that is typical in AMD, the most common cause of blindness in the elderly.

(University of Washington) Engineers and physicians at the University of Washington have built a scaffold that supports the growth and integration of stem cell-derived cardiac muscle cells.

The scaffold supports the growth of cardiac cells in the lab and encourages blood vessel growth in living animals.

(Ohio State University Medical Center) Ohio State University cancer researchers developed a tumor-attacking virus that kills brain-tumor cells and blocks tumor blood-vessel growth.

The research shows that viruses designed to kill cancer cells -- oncolytic viruses -- might be more effective against aggressive brain tumors if they can also inhibit blood-vessel growth.

The study showed that an oncolytic virus containing the gene for this protein, called vasculostatin, eliminated human glioblastoma tumors growing in some animals and significantly slowed tumor recurrence in others.