Scientists at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions have devised a new strategy to stop tumors from developing the new blood vessels they need to grow. Once thought to be extremely promising for the treatment of cancer, blocking molecules that stimulate new blood vessel growth (angiogenesis) has proven ineffective because tumor cells respond by producing more stimulatory molecules. The new strategy involves disabling key enzymes that replenish the molecule that cells need for the reactions that sustain new vessel growth. The research team was led by Brant M. Weinstein, Ph.D., chief of the Section on Vertebrate Organogenesis at NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The study appears in Nature Communications.
