Chapter 1. Inflammation, angiogenesis, and lymphangiogenesis

The growth of blood and lymphatic vessels, namely angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis, is well known to be of importance for tumor growth and metastatic spread. In fact, several therapeutic strategies are currently being pursued in the clinic to interfere with these processes. By contrast, vascular remodeling associated with chronic inflammatory disorders, such as psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis or inflammatory bowel disease, is only now emerging as a potential new target to treat these conditions. Animal models of inflammation, which mimic the inflammatory and the vascular phenotype of the disease, are important tools for studying inflammation and the accompanying (lymph)angiogenic response in vivo. This review provides a brief summary of our current knowledge of inflammation-induced angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis and of selected mouse models that can be used to analyze these processes in vivo. It also provides a detailed description of methods, such as immunofluorescence or fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) that can be used to visualize and quantitate vascular remodeling in inflamed tissues.