Biomol Ther.  2014 Jan;22(1):1-9.

VEGF-VEGFR Signals in Health and Disease

• Shibuya M

Abstract

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-VEGF receptor (VEGFR) system has been shown to play central roles not only in physiological angiogenesis, but also in pathological angiogenesis in diseases such as cancer. Based on these findings, a variety of anti-angiogenic drugs, including anti-VEGF antibodies and VEGFR/multi-receptor kinase inhibitors have been developed and approved for the clinical use. While the clinical efficacy of these drugs has been clearly demonstrated in cancer patients, they have not been shown to be effective in curing cancer, suggesting that further improvement in their design is necessary. Abnormal expression of an endogenous VEGF-inhibitor sFlt-1 has been shown to be involved in a variety of diseases, such as preeclampsia and aged macular degeneration. In addition, various factors modulating angiogenic processes have been recently isolated. Given this complexity then, extensive studies on the interrelationship between VEGF signals and other angiogenesis-regulatory systems will be important for developing future strategies to suppress diseases with an angiogenic component.

Keyword

VEGF; VEGF receptor; Angiogenic signals; Anti-Angiogenic therapy

MeSH Terms

Angiogenesis Inhibitors
Antibodies
Humans
Macular Degeneration
Neovascularization, Pathologic
Neovascularization, Physiologic
Phosphotransferases
Pre-Eclampsia
Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A
Angiogenesis Inhibitors
Antibodies
Phosphotransferases
Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A