Abstract

RECENT ADVANCES IN VASCULAR TARGETING AGENTS AS ANTICANCER DRUGS

Moses Muyaba*, Yuanyuan Liu, Wenbo Si, Minhang Xin, Fan Meng, Qidong You b, Hua Xiang

Abstract

The tumor vasculature is an important target for anticancer therapy because the blood vessels deliver oxygen and nutrients to whole-body, as well as provide a route for tumor development and metastatic spread. The vascular targeting agents (VTAs) are promising strategy targeting the tumor vasculature. In recent years, the increased knowledge of tumor vascular system and its molecular mechanism has led to the clinical studies or approval of a lot of new VTAs. Although beneficial for cancer patients, their limited efficacy remains a challenging problem and new therapeutic strategies are being explored. This review highlights the recent advances of VTAs including their structures, biological mechanism and clinical status.

Keywords: anticancer drugs; tumor vasculature and vascular targeting agents.