VEGF News and Research

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VEGF is a substance made by cells that stimulates new blood vessel formation. Also called vascular endothelial growth factor.

New light shed on salt-sensitive hypertension

A high salt intake has been implicated in cardiovascular disease risk for 5000 years. But salt-sensitive hypertension still remains an enigma.

4 May 2009

A potentially better option to blocks tumors

On the heels of dismaying reports that a promising antitumor drug could, in theory, shorten patients' long-term survival, comes a promising study by a Japanese team of researchers that suggests a potentially better option.

30 Apr 2009

Human foetal stem cells can effectively be used to treat back leg ischaemic ulcers

Treatment of chronic wounds is a continuing clinical problem and socio-economic burden with diabetic foot ulcers alone costing the NHS £300 million a year.

20 Apr 2009

Visual impairment will increase as population ages, but treatment can mitigate effects

Health care providers can expect a significant increase in age-related macular degeneration as the baby boom generation reaches retirement age, according to a new study by researchers at RTI International and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

13 Apr 2009

New therapies expected to help reduce future burden of age-related macular degeneration

The prevalence of the eye disease age-related macular degeneration is projected to increase substantially by 2050, but the use of new therapies is expected to help mitigate its effects on vision, according to results of simulation modeling reported in the April issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.

13 Apr 2009

Monoclonal antibody cancer therapy

The strategy of using monoclonal antibodies for cancer treatment was first described in the late 1970s with the promise that they could be developed into therapies that were highly specific to cancer cells, killing them with few or no side effects.

6 Apr 2009

Angiogenesis inhibitor improves glioblastoma survival by reducing edema

The beneficial effects of anti-angiogenesis drugs in the treatment of the deadly brain tumors called glioblastomas appear to result primarily from reduction of edema - the swelling of brain tissue - and not from any direct anti-tumor effect, according to a study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers.

30 Mar 2009

New therapeutic approaches to castrate resistant prostate cancer

Today Dr. Martin Gleave of the Vancouver Prostate Centre in Canada gave a lecture about new approaches to treat castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRCP) during the 24 th Annual Congress of the European Association of Urology in Stockholm, Sweden.

22 Mar 2009

Genetic mechanism in mole rats can be targeted in cancer research

"When we understand how the subterranean mole rat developed these mechanisms for survival, we may be able to understand why they are so destructive in humans," Prof. Aaron Avivi of the University of Haifa said.

15 Mar 2009

Effective stem cell treatment for strokes a step closer

Effective stem cell treatment for strokes has taken a significant step forward today (09 March) as scientists reveal how they have replaced stroke-damaged brain tissue in rats.

8 Mar 2009

Angiogenesis inhibitors, study points to limitations, solutions

A new generation of cancer drugs designed to starve tumors of their blood supply - called "angiogenesis inhibitors"-succeeds at first, but then promotes more invasive cancer growth-sometimes with a higher incidence of metastases, according to a new study in animals.

2 Mar 2009

Stress may speed growth of melanoma tumors

For patients with a particularly aggressive form of skin cancer - malignant melanoma - stress, including that which comes from simply hearing that diagnosis, might amplify the progression of their disease.

2 Feb 2009

Researchers trick bone marrow into releasing mesenchymal stem cells

Scientists have tricked bone marrow into releasing extra adult stem cells into the bloodstream, a technique that they hope could one day be used to repair heart damage or mend a broken bone, in a new study published today in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

9 Jan 2009

Control of blood vessels a possible weapon against obesity

Mice exposed to low temperatures develop more blood vessels in their adipose tissue and metabolise body fat more quickly, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet. Scientists now hope to learn how to control blood vessel development in humans in order to combat obesity and diabetes.

7 Jan 2009

New bone and tissue regeneration technique

Using stem cell lines not typically combined, researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have designed a new way to "grow" bone and other tissues.

15 Dec 2008

FDA grants compassionate case for use of novel wet age-related macular degeneration treatment

NeoVista, Inc., announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved the company's "compassionate case" waiver to utilize its novel wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) treatment on a patient with an advanced form of the disease who did not meet criteria for inclusion into current NeoVista investigational treatment protocols.

10 Dec 2008

Amgen, Takeda and Millennium update on phase 3 trial of Motesanib in non-small cell lung cancer

Amgen and Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company, a subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited , today announced that enrollment in the Phase 3 MONET1 trial evaluating motesanib (AMG 706) in combination with paclitaxel and carboplatin for the first-line treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been temporarily suspended following a planned safety data review of 600 patients by the study's independent Data Monitoring Committee (DMC). Motesanib is part of a broad co-development program between Amgen and Takeda.

19 Nov 2008

Combination of carboplatin and paclitaxel with bevacizumab and cetuximab proves safe for lung cancer treatment

The four drug-combination of carboplatin and paclitaxel, with the targeted therapies bevacizumab (Avastin) and cetuximab (Erbitux), is safe and may improve survival for patients with advanced lung cancer, according to a cooperative group study led by The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

16 Nov 2008

Traditional chemotherapy agents with targeted therapies improves survival in advance-stage lung cancer

The combination of traditional chemotherapy agents with targeted therapies called monoclonal antibodies showed no safety concerns and improved survival in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer according to a study presented at the 2008 Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology, sponsored by ASTRO, ASCO, IASLC and the University of Chicago.

16 Nov 2008

Chaotic vasculature hinders tumor growth

Dense networks of blood vessels thought to spur cancer's growth could actually hinder rather than promote tumor progression, according to a new study at the University of California, San Diego.

10 Nov 2008