By Francesco Bertolini, European Institute of Oncology

14th International Symposium on Anti-Angiogenic Agents, La Jolla, California, USA, February 2-4, 2012

Angiongenesis is an essential process in the growth of neoplasms and progression to metastasis. This year the annual state-of-the-art symposium on Anti-Angiogenic Agents continued the dialogue and interaction between research and clinical investigators by reviewing the current scientific understanding of vascular biology and angiogenesis.

The meeting is a comprehensive forum on neoplastic angiogenesis and anti-angiogenic therapies where cutting edge data from basic research and the results from relevant clinical trials are presented. As the registration and photographing of sessions was prohibited several new and unpublished data were presented.

The angiogenesis field has recently been sparked by the FDA approval of some new anti-angiogenic drugs and already approved drugs for new indications. These include sunitinib for neuroendocrine tumours, vandetanib for medullary thyroid carcinoma and axitininb for renal cell carcinoma.

Also, a few days before the start of the meeting a number of press releases reported the clinical success of bevacizumab in both advanced metastatic colorectral cancer and as maintenance therapy in ovarian cancer and of VEGFtrap (aflibercept) as second line therapy for colorectal cancer.

Some interesting phase I data presented at the meeting included evidence of clinical activity from PF03446962, an anti-alk-1 monoclonal antibody from Pfizer, which inhibits angiogenesis in way complementary to anti-VEGF therapies.

Also early results from a phase 1b trial with MEGF0444A (Genentech), a humanized monoclonal antibody against the epidermal growth factor-like domain 7, which is enriched in tumour vascular matrix after bevacizumab treatment look promising.  

Hopefully these preliminary data will lead to new treatment options for solid tumours.

More info here