Targeting angiogenesis for cancer (gene) therapy.

Suppression of development of new blood vessels in solid tumors provides a clear therapeutic benefit both in experimental animals and human patients. Molecules targeting multiple pathways with VEGF pathway being one of the best described are currently under consideration to reach use in clinical settings. Even though some success has been observed using traditional protein-based inhibitors, alternative strategies and new approaches to inhibit excessive tumor angiogenesis are being developed and tested. Gene therapy represents a powerful tool for therapeutic intervention to angiogenesis. Delivery of genes encoding endogenous angiogenesis inhibitors and decoy receptors for proangiogenic factors may bear an advantage over classic non-gene therapy in terms of specific targeting, cost-effectiveness and safety. Modern approaches focused on gene targeting such as RNA interference and microRNA will show the future direction in the field of angiogenesis inhibition for cancer treatment (Ref. 68).