The year 2018 marked the 110th anniversary of Goldmann’s discovery that vascularization is an active process in tissues1 and the 50th anniversary of the concomitant reports from Greenblatt and Shubik2 and Ehrmann and Knoth3 that soluble morphogenic factors are required for cancer angiogenesis. Many other radically transformative paradigms have been introduced in the last decades. To name a few, the molecular search for the identity of master regulators of vascular tone led to the discovery of the Endothelium-Derived Relaxing Factor (EDRF; i.e., NO4), while clinically inspired investigations led to the recognition of the pathophysiological relevance of neoangiogenesis in cancer and tissue healing. This brought about the proposal of blocking angiogenesis to halt tumor growth and stimulating angiogenesis to treat myocardial ischemia and heart failure5-7.
New targets in vascular biology and new challenges in vascular medicine
