We now know that excessive angiogenesis contributes to the development of a variety of disease processes, including cancer, chronic inflammatory disease, and diabetic retinopathy. On the other hand, insufficient angiogenesis may impair wound healing and organ repair. This volume describes recent advances in understanding the molecular regulation of angiogenesis. Subjects covered include important pro-angiogenic growth factors (e.g., vascular endothelial growth factor/vascular permeability factor, scatter factor/hepatocyte growth factor) and their receptors; angiogenesis inhibitors (e.g., thrombospondin-1, angiostatin); extracellular matrix factors (e.g., laminin) and specific vascular integrins (avb3 and avb5) that regulate angiogenesis; the roles of fibrin and the fibrinolytic system in angiogenesis; physical factors that regulate angiogenesis (hypoxia, pH); mechanisms by which specific cell types (macrophages, pericytes) regulate angiogenesis; and lymphangiogenesis, a subject often ignored in volumes of this type. Several chapters are also devoted to the prognostic and therapeutic implications of tumor angiogenesis, a subject of great interest to clinicians. Reflecting the latest advances in this exciting and expanding field, this comprehensive and authoritative monograph will prove invaluable to cell biologists, cancer researchers and pharmacologists.

Inhalt
Angiogenesis and angiogenesis inhibition: An overview.- Significance of angiogenesis in human disease.- Role of the macrophage in angiogenesis-dependent diseases.- Angiogenesis in human gliomas: Prognostic and therapeutic implications.- Regulation of angiogenesis in malignant gliomas.- Lymphangiogenesis: Mechanisms, significance and clinical implications.- Angiogenesis as a biologic and prognostic indicator in human breast carcinoma.- Molecular mechanisms of angiogenesis regulation.- Control of angiogenesis by cytokines and growth factors.- Fibroblast growth factors as angiogenesis factors: New insights into their mechanism of action.- Regulation of angiogenesis by scatter factor.- Vascular endothelial growth factor: Basic biology and clinical implications.- Vascular permeability factor/vascular endothelial growth factor: A multifunctional angiogenic cytokine.- Angiogenesis inhibition.- Angiostatin: An endogenous inhibitor of angiogenesis and of tumor growth.- Thrombospondin as a regulator of angiogenesis.- Regulation of angiogenesis by cell-matrix cell-cell and other interactions.- Regulation of capillary formation by laminin and other components of the extracellular matrix.- Hypoxia and angiogenesis in experimental tumor models: Therapeutic implications.- The role of vascular cell integrins ?v?3 and ?v?5 in angiogenesis.- Role of fibrin and plasminogen activators in repair-associated angiogenesis: In vitro studies with human endothelial cells.- Tumor angiogenesis: Functional similarities with tumor invasion.- Control of angiogenesis by the pericyte: Molecular mechanisms and significance.