scholarly journals Gastric carcinogenesis: a comprehensive review of the angiogenic pathways

Author(s):  
Alicja Forma ◽  
Magdalena Tyczyńska ◽  
Paweł Kędzierawski ◽  
Klaudyna Gietka ◽  
Monika Sitarz

AbstractGastric cancer (GC) is undoubtedly one of the most prevalent malignancies worldwide. Since GC is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths with nearly one million new diagnoses reported every year, there is a need for the development of new, effective treatment strategies of GC. Gastric carcinogenesis is a complex process that is induced by numerous factors and further stimulated by many pro-oncogenic pathways. Angiogenesis is the process of the new blood vessels formation from the already existing ones and it significantly contributes to the progression of gastric tumorigenesis and the growth of the cancerous tissues. The newly formed vessels provide cancer cells with proper nutrition, growth factors, and oxygen supply that are crucial for tumor growth and progression. Tumor-associated vessels differ from the physiological ones both morphologically and functionally. They are usually inefficient and unevenly distributed due to structural transformations. Thus, the development of the angiogenesis inhibitors that possess therapeutic effects has been the main focus of recent studies. Angiogenesis inhibitors mostly affect the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) pathway since it is a major factor that stimulates the pro-angiogenic pathways. The aim of this review was to describe and summarize other promising molecular pathways that might be crucial in further improvements in GC therapies. This article provides an overview of how a meaningful role in tumor progression the angiogenetic process has. Furthermore, this review includes a description of the most important angiogenic factors as well as pathways and their involvement in gastric carcinogenesis.

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Clahsen ◽  
Christian Büttner ◽  
Niloofar Hatami ◽  
André Reis ◽  
Claus Cursiefen

Under normal conditions, the cornea, being the transparent “windscreen” of the eye, is free of both blood and lymphatic vessels. However, various diseases of the eye, like infections, can interfere with the balance between promoting and inhibiting factors, which leads to ingrowth of blood and lymphatic vessels. The newly formed lymphatic vessels increase the risk of graft rejection after subsequent corneal transplantation. Corneal transplantation is one of the most commonly performed transplantations worldwide, with more than 40,000 surgeries per year in Europe. To date, various anti-hem- and anti-lymphangiogenic treatment strategies have been developed specifically for the corneal vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) pathway. Currently, however, no treatment strategies are clinically available to specifically modulate lymphangiogenesis. In this review, we will give an overview about endogenous regulators of hem- and lymphangiogenesis and discuss potential new strategies for targeting pathological lymphangiogenesis. Furthermore, we will review recently identified modulators and demonstrate that the cornea is a suitable model for the identification of novel endogenous modulators of lymphangiogenesis. The identification of novel modulators of lymphangiogenesis and a better understanding of the signaling pathways involved will contribute to the development of new therapeutic targets for the treatment of pathological lymphangiogenesis. This, in turn, will improve graft rejection, not only for the cornea.


2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nenad Petrovic

Since early seventies of the twentieth century, through seminal work of Judah Folkman, angiogenesis, the process of new blood vessel sprouting from the existing vasculature, was recognized as a necessary part of wound healing, development of placenta, tissue growth and regeneration as well as cancer progression. This process is induced by low tissue oxygenation and it is a crucial prerequisite for rapid tissue growth, providing proper oxygen supply and removal of toxic metabolites. Suppression of angiogenesis as a way of slowing down tumor progression continues to be one of the most important areas of cancer research. The angiogenic process is relatively complex and it is regulated by numerous pro- and anti-angiogenic factors. Intensive research in the last twenty years resulted in identification of more than 300 angiogenesis inhibitors, a trend that is expected to continue. Unfortunately, most of these treatments have demonstrated unacceptable toxicities or failed to show activity in clinical studies. Although not yet completely understood, the complex process of tumor angiogenesis involves highly regulated orchestration of multiple activating and inhibiting factors. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its cognate receptors appear to play a central role in angiogenesis activation. Thus, initial efforts to develop anti-angiogenic treatments focused largely on inhibiting VEGF action. Such approaches, however, often lead to transient responses due to multiple pathways able to compensate for a single pathway inhibited. Accordingly, more recent treatments have focused on simultaneous inhibition of multiple signaling pathways. This review concentrates on identifying those anti-angiogenic treatments that made to the clinic by receiving approval by USA Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as treatments for cancer. Regardless of observed problems, it is an imperative that research in angiogenesis regulation continues. Consequently, pharmacological manipulation of angiogenesis may yet to introduce truly new pharmacological therapies into the field of cancer therapy, the field that was rather dormant in the last several decades. This article is open to POST-PUBLICATION REVIEW. Registered readers (see “For Readers”) may comment by clicking on ABSTRACT on the issue’s contents page.


Author(s):  
Sara De Dosso

A large proportion of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) experience disease progression after first-line treatment with chemotherapy and bevacizumab, an anti-angiogenic agent, as a result of acquired resistance. However, blocking angiogenesis by targeted therapy towards the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) pathway still forms an essential part of the second-line treatment strategy. Although three approved evidence-based choices for angiogenic agents (continuing treatment with bevacizumab, ramucirumab and aflibercept) are currently available in the second line, making the most effective choice is challenging due to the lack of studies directly comparing these agents. Moreover, despite huge investigational efforts, no predictive biomarker for anti-angiogenic cancer therapies could be identified so far.


Biomedicines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 118
Author(s):  
Roberta Gonnella ◽  
Maria Saveria Gilardini Montani ◽  
Luisa Guttieri ◽  
Maria Anele Romeo ◽  
Roberta Santarelli ◽  
...  

Primary Effusion Lymphoma (PEL) is a highly aggressive B cell lymphoma associated with Kaposi’s Sarcoma-associated Herpesvirus (KSHV). It is characterized by a high level of basal Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) stress, Unfolded Protein Response (UPR) activation and constitutive phosphorylation of oncogenic pathways such as the Signal Transducer and activator of Transcription (STAT3). In this study, we found that the inositol requiring kinase (IRE) 1alpha/X-box binding protein (XBP1) axis of UPR plays a key role in the survival of PEL cells, while double stranded RNA-activated protein kinase-like ER kinase (PERK) and activating transcription factor (ATF) 6 slightly influence it, in correlation with the capacity of the IRE1alpha/XBP1 axis to induce the release of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10 and Vascular-Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF). Moreover, we found that IRE1alpha/XBP1 inhibition reduced STAT3 Tyr705 phosphorylation and induced a pro-survival autophagy in PEL cells. In conclusion, this study suggests that targeting the IRE1alpha/XBP1 axis represents a promising strategy against PEL cells and that the cytotoxic effect of this treatment may be potentiated by autophagy inhibition.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1949
Author(s):  
Yawen Dong ◽  
Jeffrey Sum Lung Wong ◽  
Ryohichi Sugimura ◽  
Ka-On Lam ◽  
Bryan Li ◽  
...  

Advanced, unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma has a dismal outcome. Multiple immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) targeting the programmed-cell death 1 pathway (PD-1/L1) have been approved for the treatment of advanced HCC. However, outcomes remain undesirable and unpredictable on a patient-to-patient basis. The combination of anti-PD-1/L1 with alternative agents, chiefly cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) ICIs or agents targeting other oncogenic pathways such as the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) pathway and the c-MET pathway, has, in addition to the benefit of directly targeting alterative oncogenic pathways, in vitro evidence of synergism through altering the genomic and function signatures of T cells and expression of immune checkpoints. Several trials have been completed or are underway evaluating such combinations. Finally, studies utilizing transcriptomics and organoids are underway to establish biomarkers to predict ICI response. This review aims to discuss the biological rationale and clinical advances in ICI-based combinations in HCCs, as well as the progress and prospects of the search for the aforementioned biomarkers in ICI treatment of HCC.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Koehler ◽  
Gloria Ruiz-Gómez ◽  
Kanagasabai Balamurugan ◽  
Sandra Rother ◽  
Joanna Freyse ◽  
...  

AbstractPathological healing characterized by abnormal angiogenesis presents a serious burden to patients’ quality of life requiring innovative treatment strategies. Glycosaminoglycans (GAG) are important regulators of angiogenic processes. This experimental and computational study revealed how sulfated GAG derivatives (sGAG) influence the interplay of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)165 and its heparin-binding domain (HBD) with the signaling receptor VEGFR-2 up to atomic detail. There was profound evidence for a HBD-GAG-HBD stacking configuration. Here, the sGAG act as a “molecular glue” leading to recognition modes in which sGAG interact with two VEGF165-HBDs. A 3D angiogenesis model demonstrated the dual regulatory role of high-sulfated derivatives on the biological activity of endothelial cells. While GAG alone promote sprouting, they downregulate VEGF165-mediated signaling and, thereby, elicit VEGF165-independent and -dependent effects. These findings provide novel insights into the modulatory potential of sGAG derivatives on angiogenic processes and point towards their prospective application in treating abnormal angiogenesis.


2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 1129-1136 ◽  
Author(s):  
María J. Pajares ◽  
Jackeline Agorreta ◽  
Marta Larrayoz ◽  
Aurélien Vesin ◽  
Teresa Ezponda ◽  
...  

PurposeAntiangiogenic therapies targeting the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) pathway have yielded more modest clinical benefit to patients with non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) than initially expected. Clinical data suggest a distinct biologic role of the VEGF pathway in the different histologic subtypes of lung cancer. To clarify the influence of histologic differentiation in the prognostic relevance of VEGF-mediated signaling in NSCLC, we performed a concomitant analysis of the expression of three key elements of the VEGF pathway in the earliest stages of the following two principal histologic subtypes: squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma (ADC).Patients and MethodsWe evaluated tumor cell expression of VEGF, VEGF receptor (VEGFR) 1, and VEGFR2 using automatic immunostaining in a series of 298 patients with early-stage NSCLC recruited as part of the multicenter European Early Lung Cancer Detection Group project. A score measuring the VEGF signaling pathway was calculated by adding the tumor cell expression value of VEGF and its two receptors. The results were validated in two additional independent cohorts of patients with NSCLC.ResultsThe combination of high VEGF, VEGFR1, and VEGFR2 protein expression was associated with lower risk of disease progression in early SCC (univariate analysis, P = .008; multivariate analysis, hazard ratio, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.42 to 0.92; P = .02). The results were validated in two independent patient cohorts, confirming the favorable prognostic value of high VEGF signaling score in early lung SCC.ConclusionOur results clearly indicate that the combination of high expression of the three key elements in the VEGF pathway is associated with a good prognosis in patients with early SCC but not in patients with ADC.


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