Angiogenesis in Brain Tumors, 2004 Cancer Treatment and Research Series, Vol. 117

This volume "Angiogenesis in Brain Tumors" is part of the book series "Cancer Treatment and Research" and offers a detailed overview of the biology of angiogenesis in the central nervous system, the role of angiogenesis in brain tumor development and growth, and anti-angiogenic therapeutic applications. Our understanding of the mutual relationship between tumor growth and concomitant neovascularization has provided important insights into the biology of brain tumors and contributed to the development of new treatment strategies. Many of the early experimental findings on angiogenesis were made using brain tumor models. This was largely due to the fact that brain tumors are among the highest vascularized tumors. In addition, until to date all efforts to develop efficient therapies for these highly malignant tumors have met with little if any success . The scientific evidence on the role of angiogenesis in tumor development accumulated until today has already let to the initiation of several clinical trials. Despite the fact that not all expectations have been fulfilled, the results available so far are promising and suggest that anti­ angiogenic therapeutic strategies may be of benefit to our brain tumor patients in the near future. The volume is comprised of four sections . The first section is dedicated to the principles of angiogenesis in the central nervous system and gives an overview on the cellular, physiological and developmental processes of angiogenesis.

Contributing Authors.- A — Principles of Angiogenesis in the Central Nervous System.- 1. Vasculogenesis and Angiogenesis.- 2. Morphogenesis of Embryonic CNS Vessels.- 3. Mathematical Modeling of Tumour-Induced Angiogenesis: Network Growth and Structure.- B — Assessment of Angiogenesis in Neuro-Oncology.- 4. Histologic Measures of Angiogenesis in Human Primary Brain Tumors.- 5. Angiogenesis in Transgenic Models of Multistep Angiogenesis.- 6. Models for Angiogenesis in Gliomas.- 7. Protocol for Isolation of HCEC.- 8. Protocol for MRI Monitoring of Orthotopic Glioma Growth in the Rat Brain.- 9. Methods to Study Angiogenesis in vitro.- 10. The Rabbit Corneal Pocket Assay for the Study of Angiogenesis.- C — Brain Tumor Related Angiogenesis.- 11. Role of Nitric Oxide in Tumor Angiogenesis.- 12. Angiogenesis-related Growth Factors in Brain Tumors.- 13. Role of VEGF in Developmental Angiogenesis and in Tumor Angiogenesis in the Brain.- 14. Hypoxia and Hypoxia Inducible Factors (HIP) as Important Regulators of Tumor Physiology.- 15. Vascular Microenvironment in Gliomas.- 16. Angiogenesis and Invasion in Gliomas.- 17. Metastasis and Angiogenesis.- D — Clinical Application in Neuro-Oncology.- 18. Inhibition of Angiogenesis as a Therapeutic Strategy Against Brain Tumors.- 19. Anti-Angiogenic Chemotherapy in Central Nervous System Tumors.

Offers an overview of the cellular, physiological and developmental basis of angiogenesis and an introduction into the basic science of this emerging field