Positive and negative regulation of angiogenesis: from cell biology to the clinic.

Virtually every subspecialty in medicine in one way or another deals with angiogenesis-associated physiological or pathological processes and, without exception, every organ system in the body has many diseases in which angiogenesis is an important component. This in itself makes the study of angiogenesis mandatory, in both basic science and clinical settings. Yet the study of angiogenesis does not require this justification. As a biological process it is extraordinarily rich, touching on virtually every aspect of modern cell biology, making it almost impossible for molecular biologists, biochemists and morphologists to ignore. Considerable therapeutic benefit can now be obtained through positive or negative manipulation of the angiogenic process, and this is due in large part to the rapid transfer to the clinical setting of knowledge acquired through a cell biological approach.