IMR Press / FBL / Volume 16 / Issue 4 / DOI: 10.2741/3796

Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (FBL) is published by IMR Press from Volume 26 Issue 5 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.

Article
Vasculogenensis, angiogenesis and special features of tumor blood vessels
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1 Department of Pharmacology, Tokyo Women's Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan
Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2011, 16(4), 1413–1427; https://doi.org/10.2741/3796
Published: 1 January 2011
Abstract

The circulatory system comprises a tubular network of blood vessels including arterioles, capillaries, venules, and lymphatic vessels. This circulatory system is essential for the embryonic development and maintenance of all tissues, which requires the transportation of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nutrition. The system regulates the movement of fluid into and out of organs with high level of efficiency. "Tumor angiogenesis" describes the rapid growth of certain components of the circulatory system in an abnormal fashion that is both heterogeneous and dysregulated. The aberrant flow between abnormal tumor vessels and normal vessels poses a high risk for seeding of potentially metastatic cancer cells. Moreover, it has also been reported that premetastatic distant organ vessels already undergo specific changes due to the presence of a remote primary tumor. Therapeutic strategies aimed at targeting tumor vessels have the potential to suppress tumor growth, and also influence the effects of tumor-derived cytokines and circulating tumor cells. Furthermore, focusing on vessels in a premetastatic organ that have responded to a primary tumor may be one possibility for reducing metastatic risk.

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