Antiangiogenic Cancer Therapy

The American Cancer Society reported in October 2009 that more than 50 percent of all people diagnosed with cancer will live for five years or longer. However, some cancers remain difficult to treat, and others still cannot be cured. Research in this area is ongoing, and one promising treatment is antiangiogenic cancer therapy.

• Antiangiogenic therapy is one option for cancer patients.

Significance

• Traditional cancer treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy can cause debilitating side effects. For example, patients who undergo traditional cancer treatments can experience fatigue, hair loss, low blood cell counts and fertility changes. The side effects of antiangiogenic cancer therapy, in comparison, tend to be milder.

Function

• Every cell in the body--including a cancer cell--requires a blood supply to survive and grow. Thus, as cancer tumors grow, they form new blood vessels (angiogenesis) so oxygen and other nutrients can reach all of their cells. Antiangiogenic cancer therapy interferes with this process, preventing new blood vessels from forming.

Benefits

• The National Cancer Institute in 2008 identified three benefits of antiangiogenic cancer therapy. First, antiangiogenic cancer therapy lacks the serious side effects of traditional cancer treatments. Second, clinical studies have shown that cancer cells do not become resistant to antiangiogenic therapy, even over long periods of time. Third, antiangiogenic cancer therapy can be used in combination with other cancer treatments, which increases their effectiveness.

Considerations

• Antiangiogenic cancer therapy can weaken your immune system, which heightens your risk for other infections. It also can raise blood pressure and cause internal bleeding and blood clots. As of October 2009, antiangiogenic cancer therapy was still experimental. Therefore, some of its side effects and complications were still unknown.

Expert Insight

• According to the American Cancer Society, antiangiogenic cancer therapy is only effective against cancers that form tumors. Consequently, antiangiogenic cancer therapy is ineffective against leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma.

  Antiangiogenic cancer therapy has proven useful against cancers that resist chemotherapy. Chemotherapy, for instance, has little effect on kidney cancer, but because kidney tumors form many blood vessels, they respond well to antiangiogenic therapy.