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Lauren Ginn Instructor: Malcolm Campbell English 1102 13 February 2014 The Tumornator: Is Anti-Angiogenesis the New Answer for Curing Cancer? Every day, someones life is changed forever by one statement: Im sorry, you have cancer. Cancer has become one of the most horrific diseases of all time, with more and more people having to face the fight every day. As a young girl, I didnt understand the horrible side effects cancer and treatments had on a persons mind, body, and spirit. It wasnt until my aunt had a scare with breast cancer that I finally understood just how terrifying and devastating the disease truly was. I saw the struggles of my aunt to find the strength to get out of bed and start her day; I also constantly saw the pain that the adults in my family expressed every time they heard news about my aunts condition. It was this experience that made me realize that something must be done to stop cancer from taking peoples lives away from them. While still terrifying and devastating, significant research has been conducted throughout the past few decades that can potentially change the way people fight cancer forever. One of these main topics is anti-angiogenesis. Before understanding anti-angiogenesis, however, angiogenesis must be understood first. Angiogenesis is the growth of new capillary blood vessels in the body, according to William Li, M.D., the founder and president of the Angiogenesis Foundation. Angiogenesis is a crucial part of life because it helps to heal wounds and rebuild tissues. However, angiogenesis creates problems when it becomes out of balance. According to Li, Abnormal blood vessel growth, either excessive or insufficient, is now

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recognized as a common denominator underlying many deadly and debilitating conditions, including cancer. In order for cancer to grow it must be fed with the blood and nutrients. This is where angiogenesis comes into play. According to the National Cancer Institute, angiogenesis--the growth of the new blood vessels--is necessary for cancerous tumors to keep growing and spreading. Angiogenesis occurs by the use of four different growth factors that start a signaling pathway that grows the blood vessels: platelet-derived growth factor, epidermal growth factor, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and fibroblast growth factor (basic and acidic) (Takahashi). Once this process with the growth factors has occurred and angiogenesis is completed, metastasis is able to take place and make cancer all the more deadly. Metastasis is the movement of cancerous cells that have broken free from the primary site through the blood stream by using the new blood vessels to other parts of the body (American). Once cancer has reached this stage, the cancer is considered advanced and is much harder to combat with drugs and radiation (American). The theory with anti-angiogenesis is that suppressing these different growth factors and stopping the formation of these new blood vessels that feed the cancer will cause the cancer to stop growing and virtually disappear before it can reach the metastatic stage. In other words, the goal of anti-angiogenesis is to starve out cancer (Can?). Early research of antiangiogenic therapy has shown a very promising outcome in multiple tests. A study was conducted recently by the Department of Oncology at the University of Copenhagen in order to study antiangiogenic therapys validity in breast cancer treatment. According to the study, it was found that antiangiogenic drugs worked well when used in combination with chemotherapy (Anderson). In another test with breast cancer, when the cancer was treated with Avastin, an FDA approved antiangiogenic drug, the cancerous tumor went from

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about the size of a golf ball or a baseball to being the size of a pencil tip. Many tests have also been conducted by William Li and the Angiogenesis Foundation on different species with great results. One test was conducted on a 9 week old Boxer with a serious form of cancer called Malignant Fibroma. His case was very severe, with his veterinarian giving him only a few months to live. With antiangiogenic drugs and creams, he was given a life six times longer than what was expected. A horse was also treated with antiangiogenic drugs with striking results. This horse had a very extreme form of lip cancer called angio-sarcoma. This cancer was spreading rapidly spreading, already reaching his lymph nodes at the time of treatment. Over the course of six months using the antiangiogenic creams and drugs, the horses lip was completely healed (Li). These studies and multiple others have been used by many scientists to research further into the topic and try to improve upon the knowledge already known in order to revolutionize cancer treatment. The success rates found with using antiangiogenic drugs to prolong peoples lives is very compelling. In a study conducted by the Tongji Medical College in China, the antiangiogenic drug Bevacizumab was proven to increase patient survival rating by at least one year if not more. In order to obtain this information, they used this certain drug with numerous types of cancers and recorded the life expectancy and the rate of the cancers growth. Using all of this information, they found that this antiangiogenic drug actually did help with slowing down the tumor (Su). In combination with this information, the research that William Li and his team have completed has also added to the success rates of antiangiogenic therapy. With their research they have found that patients with certain cancers, such as kidney cancer, have a life expectancy from about 4 years to over 7 years. With numbers like these, scientists predict that antiangiogenic drugs will only become better as time goes on.

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While there is proof that antiangiogenic therapy has all of the necessary abilities to be a new way to fight against cancer, many scientists have found some potential problems and side effects with the drugs. In a recent study conducted by the Department of Cell Therapy and Hematology from San Bortolo Hospital in Vicenza, Italy, it was found that the use of antiangiogenic drugs actually caused severe bleeding and clogging of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). This causes complications with not only cancer, but internal bleeding and blood clots as well (Elice). In addition to this finding, many scientists have also found that some people and some cancers are actually resistant to the antiangiogenic drugs. In a study conducted by Shojaei F. of the Oncology Research Unit in the United States, he found that many of his patients actually had a resistance to the drugs and the tumor only grew when he introduced the antiangiogenic drugs. These challenges that come with using antiangiogenic drugs have caused many oncologists and patients very wary of using them in any way. While it is clear that there is still much to learn about antiangiogenic drugs and advancements still to be made in development and use of them as well, they have the potential to be the newest treatment to cancer. As scientists learn more about the science of angiogenesis and how to block the growth factors in the correct way, there may come a day when the line Im sorry, you have cancer is no longer a life-threatening sentence but an extinct phrase no long uttered from a physicians mouth.

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Works Cited Li, William M.D.. Hutnik, Michelle D.Sc.. Smith, Roderick M.S.. Li, Vincent M.D.. Understanding Angiogenesis. Angiogenesis Foundation. 27April 2012. 8 February 2014. Web. Su, Yuan. Yang, Wei-Bing. Li, Shi. Ye, Zhi-Jian. Shi. Effect of Angiogenesis Inhibitor Bevacizumab on Survival in Patients with Cancer: A Meta-Analysis of the Published Literature. Plos One. Na. 2 February 2014. Web. S., Takahashi. Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), VEGF Receptors and their Inhibitors for Antiangiogenic Tumor Therapy. National Library of Medicine. NA. 29 January 2014. Web. Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. Antiangiogenic Therapy Free Dictionary. 2008. 1 February 2014. Web. Nielson, Dorte Lisbet. Anderson, Michael. Anderson, Jon Lykkegaard. Kamby, Claus. Antiangiogenic Therapy for Breast Cancer. Breast Cancer Research. 2010. 1 February 2014. Web. American Cancer Society. What is Metastic Cancer? Na. 17 July 2012. 8 February 2014. Web. National Institute of Health. Understanding Cancer Series. National Cancer Institute. 28 January 2005. 29 January 2014. Web. Angiogenic Inhibitors for Cancer Treatment. Stanford Medicine. 6 February 2014. Web. F., Shojaei. Anti-angiogenesis Therapy in Cancer: Current Challenges and Future Perspectives. National Library of Medicine. 28 July 2012. 6 February 2014. Web. F., Elice. F., Rodeghiero. Side Effects of Antiangiogenic Drugs. April 2012. 30 January 2014. Web.

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Li, William, M.D. "Can We Eat to Starve Cancer? May 2010. TEDTalks. May 2010. Web. 30 January 2014.