Angiogenesis: an organizing principle for drug discovery?

Abstract

Pathological angiogenesis plays a role in a wide range of diseases. Folkman argues that viewing angiogenesis as an 'organizing principle' in biology can lead to novel insights into the molecular mechanisms of seemingly unrelated phenomena, and facilitate the development of new therapeutic approaches. Angiogenesis — the process of new blood-vessel growth — has an essential role in development, reproduction and repair. However, pathological angiogenesis occurs not only in tumour formation, but also in a range of non-neoplastic diseases that could be classed together as 'angiogenesis-dependent diseases'. By viewing the process of angiogenesis as an 'organizing principle' in biology, intriguing insights into the molecular mechanisms of seemingly unrelated phenomena might be gained. This has important consequences for the clinical use of angiogenesis inhibitors and for drug discovery, not only for optimizing the treatment of cancer, but possibly also for developing therapeutic approaches for various diseases that are otherwise unrelated to each other.