title: How molecular imaging is speeding up antiangiogenic drug development.
abstract: Drug development is a long process that generally spans about 10 to 15 years. The shift in recent drug discovery to novel agents against specific molecular targets highlights the need for more robust molecular imaging platforms. Using molecular probes, molecular imaging can aid in many steps of the drug development process, such as providing whole body readout in an intact system, decreasing the workload and speeding up drug development/validation, and facilitating individualized anticancer treatment monitoring and dose optimization. The main focus of this review is the recent advances in tumor angiogenesis imaging, and the targets include vascular endothelial growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor, integrin alpha(v)beta(3), matrix metalloproteinase, endoglin (CD105), and E-selectin. Through tumor angiogenesis imaging, it is expected that a robust platform for understanding the mechanisms of tumor angiogenesis and evaluating the efficacy of novel antiangiogenic therapies will be developed, which can help antiangiogenic drug development in both the preclinical stage and the clinical settings. Molecular imaging has enormous potential in improving the efficiency of the drug development process, including the specific area of antiangiogenic drugs.
authors.affiliation: The Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford, Department of Radiology and Bio-X Program, Stanford University School of Medicine, 1201 Welch Road, P095, Stanford, CA 94305-5484, USA.
authors.forename: Weibo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Jianghong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: Sanjiv S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Gambhir
authors.forename: Xiaoyuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015195:Drug Design; D000071063:Endoglin; D039302:Integrin alphaVbeta3 / Q000378:metabolism; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D051379:Mice; D008954:Models, Biological; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism; D040262:Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed / Q000639:trends; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D000071063:Endoglin; C502004:Eng protein, mouse; D039302:Integrin alphaVbeta3; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A; D040262:Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor