Tumor angiogenesis is one of the most prominent mechanisms driving tumor development and progression. Since its discovery more than 30 years ago some of the most important signaling pathways linking specific angiogenic activities of the tumor cells to the fatal reactions of the patient s vascular system have been elucidated. As a consequence crucial targets for therapeutic intervention have been identified and validated.

Based on these efforts and achievements, targeted drug development programs have been implemented to interfere with tumor angiogenesis as an attractive strategy in cancer treatment.

As a promising result the first targeted anti-angiogenic drugs have been approved for a variety of solid metastasizing cancers. The first generation of these molecules targets the two most prominent regulatory components of tumor angiogenesis: the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), produced by tumor cells, and the VEGF receptor tyrosine kinase, which is expressed on vascular endothelial cells.

Part 1 of this volume describes the basic mechanisms of tumor angiogenesis. Beyond the VEGF/VEGF receptor system, additional tumor-angiogenic systems are presented as new potential targets for anti-angiogenic therapy. Part 2 reviews the efforts made in preclinical research to validate new targets and to show efficacy in animals. Part 3 is entirely devoted to the clinical development of the novel anti-angiogenic drugs and their current use in clinical practice."

Tumor angiogenesis is one of the most prominent mechanisms driving tumor development and progression. This book is written by internationally renowned experts. Part 1 describes the basic mechanisms. Tumor-angiogenic signaling pathways are presented as new potential targets for anti-angiogenic therapy. Part 2 reviews the efforts made to validate new targets and to show efficacy in animals. Part 3 is devoted to the clinical development of the novel anti-angiogenic drugs and their use in clinical practice.

Die Pathogenese der Arteriosklerose ist immer noch weitgehend ungeklart. In jungster Zeit zeichnet sich jedoch ein wesentlicher Fortschritt im Verstandnis der zugrundeliegenden kausalen Ereignisse ab. Das Entstehen arteriosklerotischer Lasionen beruht mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit auf einer Fehlsteuerung der interzellularen Kommunikation, die zum Verlust der Gefasswandhomoeostase fuhrt. In einem komplexen Wechselspiel sind hieran hauptsachlich Wachstums- und Differenzierungsfaktoren beteiligt, deren biologische Funktion derzeit intensiv erforscht wird. Dieses Buch enthalt eine Bestandsaufnahme uber die zentrale Rolle dieser Wachstums- und Differenzierungsfaktoren beim Entstehen der Arteriosklerose. Es vermittelt Anstoesse fur grundlegende Forschungen auf diesem Gebiet, um zu neuen Therapiekonzepten im Kampf gegen die Arteriosklerose zu gelangen.

This exhaustive work shows that new therapies using anti-angiogenic drugs are of particular importance because they can be used against many different types of cancer, as tumor angiogenesis seems to be involved in most if not all solid metastasizing malignancies. The first part of this book summarizes the knowledge acquired on the molecular entities that play a role in tumor angiogenesis and their mechanisms of action. Furthermore, the identification of molecular markers and their validation as predictive and/or prognostic tools is reviewed. In the second and most important part, the clinical applications of anti-angiogenic treatments are documented for a wide variety of tumors. In particular, the modes of combination with other targeted and/or cytotoxic cancer therapies are presented.