Angiogenesis

Book written in french
The discovery of vascular endothelium growth factor in 1989 was a major milestone in anti-cancer research.
The fight against tumour angiogenesis is one of the major successes in modern cancer treatments. These therapies directly target the mechanisms responsible for the formation and progression of cancers.
Anti-angiogenesis treatments now exist and, as a result of assiduous research, health care providers now have a variety of active molecules at their disposal.
Initial research involved defining which signaling pathways resulted in angiogenesis, which stimuli activated these pathways, the regulation mechanisms used to control them, etc. These basic aspects are discussed in the first part of the book.
The second part is devoted to clinical aspects: the development and use of active molecules which have already been launched on the market or are due to be launched in the near future; using these molecules in combination with chemotherapy and radiotherapy; specific requirements for visualising the effects of anti-angiogenesis agents using imaging methods; toxicity related to these agents which interfere with normal angiogenesis; and resistance mechanisms and factors predictive of efficacy. Finally, while the assumption was correctly made that anti-angiogenesis agents would not be affected by standard chemotherapeutic resistance mechanisms, they are, on the other hand, affected by original resistance mechanisms which can result in the tumour continuing to develop.