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Nature Medicine 9, 822 - 823 (2003)
doi:10.1038/nm0703-822

Angiogenesis inhibitors: motivators of metastasis?

Patricia S Steeg1

  1. The author is in the Women's Cancers Section, Laboratory of Pathology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. e-mail: steegp@mail.nih.gov


Angiogenesis inhibitors have shown promise in hindering blood supply and holding tumors in check. But it now seems that such inhibitors, by depriving tumors of oxygen, could have an unintended effect: promotion of metastasis.


A recent report in Cancer Cell calls into question the simple, elegant idea of stopping tumors with angiogenesis inhibitors. Pennaccietti et al.1 find that hypoxia, instead of inhibiting tumor growth, stimulates tumor invasion by activating hepatocyte growth factor (HGF).

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