Editor's Summary
21 December 2006
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VEGF, or vascular endothelial growth factor, is the best-characterized inducer of tumour angiogenesis, and the blockade of VEGF has become an important tool in cancer therapy. But VEGF blockade is not effective against all tumours, so the search for alternative approaches continues. Two groups this week report that one such alternative could be blockade of Dll4, Delta-like ligand 4. This transmembrane molecule is part of the Notch signalling pathway. It was known to be essential for normal development of blood vessels in the embryo: the new work shows that it is also required for tumour angiogenesis. It may be a viable — and potentially well tolerated — alternative in patients with solid tumours that are resistant to anti-VEGF therapy.
Article: Blockade of Dll4 inhibits tumour growth by promoting non-productive angiogenesis
Irene Noguera-Troise, Christopher Daly, Nicholas J. Papadopoulos, Sandra Coetzee, Pat Boland, Nicholas W. Gale, Hsin Chieh Lin, George D. Yancopoulos & Gavin Thurston
doi:10.1038/nature05355
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,536K) | Supplementary information
Letter: Inhibition of Dll4 signalling inhibits tumour growth by deregulating angiogenesis
John Ridgway, Gu Zhang, Yan Wu, Scott Stawicki, Wei-Ching Liang, Yvan Chanthery, Joe Kowalski, Ryan J. Watts, Christopher Callahan, Ian Kasman, Mallika Singh, May Chien, Christine Tan, Jo-Anne S. Hongo, Fred de Sauvage, Greg Plowman & Minhong Yan
doi:10.1038/nature05313
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (779K) | Supplementary information
