Cutting off cancer's supply lines

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Drugs that aim to choke off a tumour's blood supply, known as angiogenesis inhibitors, have been hailed as opening a new era in cancer therapy. But a flurry of animal studies suggests that such drugs may in certain situations actually accelerate the spread of cancer.

"We're just finding the limitations of these types of agents in the clinic," says John Ebos, a cancer researcher at the University of Toronto, Canada. "I don't think it's unique — various types of therapies, such as chemotherapy and radiation, also have limitations. It's just a question of how we can overcome it."

This is a key time in the long and controversial history of these drugs. In May, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to decide whether to expand use of bevacizumab, the first angiogenesis inhibitor. This monoclonal antibody, sold as Avastin by South San Francisco-based Genentech, was approved in 2004 for treating metastatic colon cancer in combination with chemotherapy. It has since been approved in the United States and elsewhere for other uses, and on 31 March an FDA advisory committee recommended the drug also be approved for glioblastoma, a deadly brain cancer for which few other treatments are available. The agency's decision is expected in May.

http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090408/full/458686b.html

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