History of research on angiogenesis

Over the past 25 years, the number of Medline publications dealing with angiogenesis has increased in a nonlinear fashion, reflecting the interest among basic scientists and clinicians in this field. Under physiological conditions, angiogenesis is regulated by the local balance between endogenous stimulators and inhibitors of this process. In tumor growth, there is an imbalance between endogenous stimulator and inhibitor levels, leading to an 'angiogenic switch'. Starting with the hypothesis formulated by Judah Folkman that tumor growth is angiogenesis-dependent, this area of research has a solid scientific foundation and inhibition of angiogenesis is a major area of therapeutic development for the treatment of cancer. This paper offers an account of the most relevant discoveries in this field of biomedical research.