title: Studies on the Tumor Vasculature and Coagulant Microenvironment.
abstract: Angiogenesis represents one aspect in the complex process that leads to the generation of the vascular tumor stroma. The related functional constituents include responses of endothelial, mural, bone marrow-derived, and resident inflammatory cells as well as activation of coagulation and fibrinolytic systems in blood. Multiple molecular and cellular effectors participate in these events, often in a tumor-specific manner and with changes enforced through the microenvironment, genetic evolution, and responses to anticancer therapies. To capture various elements of these interactions several surrogate assays have been devised, which can be mechanistically useful and are amenable to quantification, but are individually insufficient to describe the underlying complexity and are best used in a targeted and combinatorial manner. Below, we present a survey of angiogenesis assays and experimental approaches to analyze vascular events in cancer. We also provided specific examples of validated protocols, which are less described, but enable the straightforward analysis of vascular structures and coagulant properties of cancer cells in vivo and in vitro.
authors: Montreal Children's Hospital, The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada, H4A 3J1.
authors: Esterina
authors: E
authors: D'Asti
authors: Montreal Children's Hospital, The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada, H4A 3J1.
authors: Brian
authors: B
authors: Meehan
authors: Montreal Children's Hospital, The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada, H4A 3J1. janusz.rak@mcgill.ca.
authors: Janusz
authors: J
authors: Rak
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers; D001777:Blood Coagulation; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic; D013925:Thromboplastin / Q000378:metabolism; D059016:Tumor Microenvironment
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D013925:Thromboplastin
keywords: Alpha smooth muscle actin; Angiogenesis; Coagulation; Endoglin; Endothelial cells; Pericytes; Proliferation; Tissue factor; Tumor microenvironment