Angiogenesis-dependent diseases.

There is accumulating evidence that leukemias and other hematologic diseases are angiogenesis-dependent. Therefore, angiogenesis inhibitors may be useful adjuncts to conventional therapies in the treatment of these diseases. When all conventional therapy has failed, an angiogenesis inhibitor may be successfully used alone, as has been demonstrated in the treatment of multiple myeloma by thalidomide. The experimental and clinical evidence that the efficacy of thalidomide against multiple myeloma is mediated in part by its antiangiogenic activity is presented here. In current clinical trials throughout the United States, angiogenesis inhibitors are being used against cancer in combination with conventional chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Angiogenesis inhibitors are also being used in combination with each other. This practice may increase as different angiogenesis inhibitors become more widely available. Copyright 2001 by W.B. Saunders Company.