This summer I had written a post about angiogenesis and Dr. Judith Folkman who had come up with the theory in the early sixties. Angiogenesis is a normal process in growth and development, as well as in wound healing. However, this is also the process that forms new blood vessels for cancer cells to survive and grow.
Angiogenesis and its complexities are still being studied so that new drugs can target the cancer's cells ability to receive a blood supply and grow. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin Madison School of Medicine and Public Health were studying a protein that regulates the maturation of blood cells and instead discovered a new part of the mechanism of angiogenesis.
The tests showed that a gene that makes a compound call NK-B can inhibit angiogenesis in four different ways which could be a promising way to halt tumor growth.
Emery Bresnick, the senior author on the study says "we have discovered a new peptide that clearly suppresses angiogenesis via a novel multi-component mechanism."
