Angiogenesis and Lymph-angiogenesis

Posted by : Unknown Sunday, 8 June 2014

Cancer is a disease characterized by out of control cell growth in one or various parts of the body. It has no definite site of action but can occur anywhere; therefore it has more than a 100 types. Cancer progresses rapidly by division of abnormally growing cells in to lumps and masses. Blood cancer or leukemia is an exception since it is characterized by abnormal cell division of cells in the blood stream, which results in altered functions of blood or complete malfunction at a later stage.

At an early stage, the tumor is focused on growth only. Later, it interferes in the nervous, digestive and lymphatic systems and also releases enzymes that produce malfunctioning in the human body. When the tumor is limited to the site of growth and does not interfere in other biological functions, it is said to be benign. The tumor gets malignant and uncontrollable after metastasis. The process involves movement of cancer cells from origin, into the blood stream or lymphatic system, destroying other healthy tissues. These incursions of healthy tissues by the cancer cells help them to divide and reproduce further. For their nutrition, these cells develop new blood vessels by the process of angiogenesis (blood stream) or lymph-angiogenesis (Lymphatic system).

Cancer is only treatable at early stages. Later, it is very difficult to seize the rapid spread. Treatments focus on surprising the tumor suppressing genes and inhibiting the growth factors that induce extensive growth. A research published by Bentham Science Publishers has a detailed analysis on “The Proteolytic Activation of Angiogenic and Lymphangiogenic Growth Factors in Cancer”. Also, the study tells much about diagnosis of cancer and its treatment regimen. The binding affinity of cells after proteolytic effect grabs an attention and seems like a promising feature in cancer treatment. This even increases the bio availability of the chemo therapeutic drugs for the patient.

There is a library of online journals on cancer by Bentham that focuses on every aspect of cancer types and complications.