AI Insight
Researchers at CNIC and international collaborators have identified previously unknown mechanisms that enable blood vessel growth independent of VEGF-VEGFR2 signaling, a major pathway currently targeted in anti-cancer therapies. This discovery reveals alternative routes through which tumors can develop blood vessels to support their growth and spread. The findings could explain why some tumors become resistant to current anti-angiogenic treatments that primarily target VEGF-VEGFR2.
Why it matters
These alternative pathways could serve as new therapeutic targets for treating drug-resistant tumors that no longer respond to conventional anti-angiogenic therapies. Understanding these mechanisms may lead to more effective combination treatments that block multiple blood vessel growth pathways simultaneously, potentially preventing tumor resistance and improving cancer patient outcomes.
Understand the Science
Researchers at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC), together with international collaborators, have uncovered previously unknown mechanisms that allow blood vessels to grow even in the absence of VEGF–VEGFR2 signaling, one of the best-known and most widely targeted pathways in clinical efforts to block tumor angiogenesis, growth and metastasis.
Source: Alternative pathways for blood vessel growth could become targets against drug-resistant tumors