Would Anti-Angiogenetic Drugs Help Treat CLL?

[Guest guest]

1: Oncologist 2001;6 Suppl 5:4-7

Angiogenic growth factors: autocrine and paracrine

regulation of survival in hematologic malignancies.

Gabrilove JL.

Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine,

The Derald H. Ruttenberg Cancer Center, Mount Sinai

School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA.

Recent research has focused on the role of angiogenic

growth factors and their ability to mediate tumor

growth and metastases, both in solid tumors and in

hematologic malignancies.

The bone marrow microenvironment is the setting for a

wealth of complex interactions that include

cell-to-cell contacts as well as secretion of and

response to soluble factors. Abundant evidence

supports the role of basic fibroblast growth factor

(bFGF) in contributing to the dysregulation of

apoptosis that is the hallmark of chronic lymphocytic

leukemia (CLL).

In fact, CLL cells themselves express bFGF;

intracellular levels of this cytokine correlate with

clinical CLL stage. Other stromal factors mediate the

inhibition of apoptosis in CLL as well, suggesting

that strategies to block the responses of CLL cells to

these factors may represent effective therapies.

More broadly, the class of agents known as

angiogenesis inhibitors may offer important advantages

with respect to the treatment of numerous types of

malignancies. Currently, a number of clinical trials

are under way to evaluate the clinical potential of

several different angiogenesis inhibitors in several

hematologic neoplasms.

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