title: Tumour angiogenesis pathways: related clinical issues and implications for nuclear medicine imaging.
abstract: Tumour angiogenesis is essential for growth, invasion and metastasis. Retrospective studies suggest that it is an independent prognostic factor that merits prospective validation. Furthermore, as tumour blood vessels show many differences from normal vessels and are not genetically unstable, they form a key area for therapy development. However, as anti-angiogenic therapy is primarily cytostatic and not cytotoxic, novel tailor-made specific end-points for treatment monitoring are required. In this regard, suitable molecular parameters for imaging tumour angiogenesis by means of nuclear medicine are being explored. Here we review current knowledge on the multiple pathways controlling tumour angiogenesis and try to assess which are the most clinically relevant for nuclear medicine imaging. Parameters that may influence the imaging potential of radiopharmaceuticals for angiogenesis imaging such as molecular weight and structure, their targeted location within the tumour and their usefulness in terms of specificity and constancy of the targeted molecular pathway are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Division of Nuclear Medicine (P7), University Hospital Ghent, De Pintelaan 185, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. christophe.vandewiele@rug.ac.be
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Van De Wiele
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Oltenfreiter
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: De Winter
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Signore
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Slegers
authors.forename: Rudi Andre
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Dierckx
mesh_terms: D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000493:pharmacokinetics
chemical_list: D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals