Angiogenesis
Angiogenesis is the process of endothelial cell sprouting from preexisting blood vessels. It plays a crucial role during development, wound repair, and in reproduction. It also is essential for growth of metastatic "seeds" into pathologic macroscopic metastases. Recent work from the lab shows that tumor angiogenesis can be discriminated from physiological angiogenesis genetically, by altering the sulfation state of endothelial heparan sulfate proteoglycans. The mechanism appears to involve altered response to growth factors, in particular VEGF. Projects involve studies of tumor growth in animals bearing mutations in genes involved in heparan sulfate assembly and isolation and study of endothelia from genetically altered mice. The application of genetics to this system suggests targets for the development of heparin-based compounds as anti-angiogenesis/anti-metastasis agents.
