Implications of vessel co-option in sorafenib-resistant hepatocellular carcinoma.

Implications of vessel co-option in sorafenib-resistant hepatocellular carcinoma. Chin J Cancer. 2016 Nov 25;35(1):97 Authors: Kuczynski EA, Kerbel RS Abstract The reason why tumors generally have a modest or transient response to antiangiogenic therapy is not well understood. This poses a major challenge for sorafenib treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) where alternate therapies are lacking. We recently published a paper entitled "Co-option of liver vessels and not sprouting angiogenesis drives acquired sorafenib resistance in hepatocellular carcinoma" in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, providing a potential explanation for this limited benefit. We found that in mice bearing HCCs that had acquired resistance to sorafenib, tumors had switched from using angiogenesis for growth to co-opting the liver vasculature by becoming more invasive. Accumulating evidence suggests that many human tumor types may use vessel co-option, which has profound implications for the use of anti-angiogenic agents for cancer treatment. PMID: 27887628 [PubMed - in process]
Source: Chinese Journal of Cancer - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Chin J Cancer Source Type: research