Good afternoon! Today, we’re diving into a fascinating medical revolution that could change how we tackle some of the most challenging diseases, including cancer. This revolution is centered around a process called angiogenesis, which is how our bodies grow blood vessels.
Blood vessels are crucial for our survival. Our bodies contain about 60,000 miles of them, enough to circle the Earth twice! The smallest of these vessels are capillaries, and we have around 19 billion of them. They play a vital role in various bodily functions, adapting to their environment. For instance, in the liver, they help detoxify blood, while in the lungs, they facilitate gas exchange.
Most blood vessels form before we’re born, but they can grow in specific situations, like during wound healing or pregnancy. Our bodies regulate blood vessel growth through a balance of stimulators and inhibitors of angiogenesis. When new vessels are needed, the body releases proteins called angiogenic factors. Once the vessels are no longer needed, inhibitors help prune them back to normal levels.
Sometimes, this balance is disrupted, leading to diseases. Insufficient angiogenesis can cause issues like non-healing wounds and heart attacks, while excessive angiogenesis can contribute to cancer, blindness, arthritis, obesity, and Alzheimer’s disease. Over 70 major diseases, affecting more than a billion people globally, share abnormal angiogenesis as a common factor.
Angiogenesis is a hallmark of cancer. Tumors start as tiny clusters of cells that can’t grow without a blood supply. Many people have microscopic cancers that remain harmless because they lack this supply. By blocking angiogenesis, we can prevent tumors from growing. However, once angiogenesis occurs, cancer cells can grow rapidly and spread.
Anti-angiogenic therapy is a promising approach to cancer treatment. Unlike chemotherapy, it specifically targets the blood vessels feeding tumors. These vessels are often abnormal and vulnerable, making them ideal targets for treatment.
There have been remarkable successes with anti-angiogenic therapy. For example, a woman with breast cancer experienced a significant reduction in blood flow to her tumor after treatment. This approach has also been tested on animals, like dogs and dolphins, with encouraging results.
Despite these successes, we often treat cancer too late. This has led researchers to explore prevention strategies, particularly through diet. Diet accounts for 30-35% of environmentally caused cancers, so adding naturally anti-angiogenic foods to our diet could be beneficial.
Research has identified many foods, beverages, and herbs that naturally inhibit angiogenesis. For instance, extracts from red grapes and strawberries have shown significant effects. A study found that men who regularly consumed cooked tomatoes had a 50% lower risk of developing prostate cancer, likely due to lycopene, an anti-angiogenic compound in tomatoes.
This research has broader implications, potentially influencing consumer education, public health, and even insurance policies. Some insurance companies are considering dietary approaches for cancer prevention.
Interestingly, angiogenesis also plays a role in obesity. Fat tissue grows when blood vessels grow, similar to tumors. Studies have shown that inhibiting angiogenesis can lead to weight loss in obese mice, suggesting potential applications for obesity treatment.
In conclusion, targeting angiogenesis offers a powerful strategy for addressing diseases like cancer and obesity. For cancer patients, FDA-approved anti-angiogenic treatments are available, and it’s important to discuss these options with healthcare providers. Additionally, we can empower ourselves by making dietary choices that may help reduce cancer risk.
Thank you for joining this exploration of angiogenesis. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
Research various foods known for their anti-angiogenic properties. Prepare a short presentation on how these foods can be incorporated into a daily diet to potentially reduce cancer risk. Share your findings with the class and discuss the potential impact on public health.
Analyze a case study where anti-angiogenic therapy was used in cancer treatment. Discuss the outcomes, challenges, and future implications of this therapy. Present your analysis in a group discussion, highlighting the role of angiogenesis in cancer progression and treatment.
Participate in a debate on the effectiveness of dietary changes versus medication in preventing cancer. Use evidence from recent studies to support your arguments. This activity will help you critically evaluate different approaches to cancer prevention and understand the role of lifestyle choices.
Join an interactive workshop where you will explore the role of angiogenesis in various diseases, including cancer and obesity. Engage in activities that simulate the process of angiogenesis and its regulation. This hands-on experience will deepen your understanding of the biological mechanisms involved.
Create a visual project, such as a poster or infographic, that illustrates the process of angiogenesis and its implications for health and disease. Use creative elements to make complex concepts accessible and engaging. Share your project with peers to foster a collaborative learning environment.
**Sanitized Transcript:**
[Music] [Applause] Good afternoon. There’s a medical revolution happening all around us, and it’s one that’s going to help us conquer some of society’s most dreaded conditions, including cancer. This revolution is called angiogenesis, which is based on the process our bodies use to grow blood vessels.
So why should we care about blood vessels? The human body is literally packed with them—60,000 miles worth in a typical adult. If laid end to end, that would form a line that could circle the Earth twice. The smallest blood vessels are called capillaries; we have about 19 billion of them in our bodies, and these are the vessels of life. However, they can also be the vessels of death.
The remarkable thing about blood vessels is their ability to adapt to whatever environment they’re growing in. For example, in the liver, they form channels to detoxify the blood; in the lungs, they line air sacs for gas exchange; in muscles, they corkscrew so that muscles can contract without cutting off circulation; and in nerves, they course along like power lines, keeping those nerves alive. Most of these blood vessels are formed while we’re still in the womb, which means that as adults, blood vessels don’t normally grow except in a few special circumstances.
In women, blood vessels grow every month to build the lining of the uterus; during pregnancy, they form the placenta, which connects mother and baby. After an injury, blood vessels actually have to grow under the scab to heal a wound. The body has the ability to regulate the number of blood vessels present at any given time through an elaborate system of checks and balances—stimulators and inhibitors of angiogenesis. When we need a brief burst of blood vessels, the body releases stimulators, proteins called angiogenic factors, that act as natural fertilizers to stimulate new blood vessels to sprout. When those excess vessels are no longer needed, the body prunes them back to baseline using naturally occurring inhibitors of angiogenesis.
However, there are situations where we start below baseline and need to grow more blood vessels just to return to normal levels, such as after an injury. But for a number of diseases, there are defects in the system where the body can’t prune back extra blood vessels or can’t grow enough new ones in the right place at the right time. In these situations, angiogenesis is out of balance, leading to a myriad of diseases. For example, insufficient angiogenesis (not enough blood vessels) can lead to wounds that don’t heal, heart attacks, and strokes, while excessive angiogenesis (too many blood vessels) drives diseases like cancer, blindness, arthritis, obesity, and Alzheimer’s disease.
In total, there are more than 70 major diseases affecting over a billion people worldwide that all share abnormal angiogenesis as their common denominator. This realization is allowing us to reconceptualize how we approach these diseases by controlling angiogenesis.
Focusing on cancer, angiogenesis is a hallmark of every type of cancer. Tumors start as small microscopic nests of cells that can only grow to a certain size without a blood supply. Autopsy studies have shown that many people have microscopic cancers that never become dangerous due to the lack of a blood supply. The body’s ability to balance angiogenesis prevents blood vessels from feeding cancers, which is one of our most important defense mechanisms against cancer.
If you block angiogenesis and prevent blood vessels from reaching cancer cells, tumors simply can’t grow. However, once angiogenesis occurs, cancers can grow exponentially. Cancer cells mutate and gain the ability to release angiogenic factors that tip the balance in favor of blood vessels invading the cancer. Once those vessels invade, the cancer can expand, invade local tissues, and allow cancer cells to exit into circulation as metastases. Unfortunately, this late stage of cancer is when it’s most likely to be diagnosed.
If angiogenesis is a tipping point between harmless and harmful cancer, one major part of the angiogenesis revolution is a new approach to treating cancer by cutting off the blood supply, known as anti-angiogenic therapy. This is different from chemotherapy because it selectively targets the blood vessels feeding the cancers. Tumor blood vessels are abnormal and poorly constructed, making them highly vulnerable to treatments that target them.
I have seen dramatic changes in patients treated with anti-angiogenic therapy. For example, a woman with breast cancer treated with an anti-angiogenic drug showed a disappearance of blood flow around the tumor.
A few years ago, I wondered if we could take this a step further and treat other cancers in other species. For instance, a 99-year-old dog named Milo had an aggressive tumor, and we created a cocktail of anti-angiogenic drugs that extended his survival significantly. We have treated over 600 dogs with a 60% response rate.
We also treated a dolphin with invasive cancers using an anti-angiogenic paste, and the cancers completely disappeared. Similarly, a horse with a deadly type of cancer experienced complete remission after treatment.
The first pioneering treatments for people and dogs are becoming available, with several drugs and cancer types already in the pipeline. However, I began to ask why we haven’t been able to do better. The answer is that we are often treating cancer too late, when it’s already established or metastasized.
To explore the prevention of angiogenesis and cancer, I looked at cancer’s causes, particularly diet, which accounts for 30-35% of environmentally caused cancers. Instead of removing items from our diet, I began to ask what we could add that is naturally anti-angiogenic.
Our research has shown that many foods, beverages, and herbs contain naturally occurring inhibitors of angiogenesis. For example, extracts from red grapes and strawberries have been shown to inhibit abnormal angiogenesis significantly. We are also studying the potency of various foods and beverages to determine which are most effective in preventing cancer.
One notable study found that men who consumed cooked tomatoes regularly had a 50% reduction in their risk of developing prostate cancer. This is likely due to lycopene, an anti-angiogenic compound found in tomatoes.
The implications of this research extend beyond cancer, potentially impacting consumer education, food services, public health, and even the insurance industry. Some insurance companies are beginning to consider these dietary approaches for cancer prevention.
Finally, I want to mention obesity, as adipose tissue (fat) is highly angiogenesis-dependent. Like tumors, fat grows when blood vessels grow. Research shows that inhibiting angiogenesis can lead to weight loss in obese mice, suggesting that this approach may also have applications for obesity.
In conclusion, I hope I’ve convinced you that targeting angiogenesis could be a powerful strategy for addressing diseases like cancer and obesity. Thank you.
If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them.
For cancer patients, there are FDA-approved anti-angiogenic treatments available, and it’s important to discuss these options with your healthcare provider. Additionally, we can empower ourselves by using knowledge to make dietary choices that may help reduce cancer risk.
Thank you!
Angiogenesis – The physiological process through which new blood vessels form from pre-existing vessels, crucial for growth and healing. – Example sentence: “Understanding the mechanisms of angiogenesis is vital for developing treatments that can inhibit tumor growth in cancer patients.”
Cancer – A disease characterized by the uncontrolled division of abnormal cells in a part of the body, often forming a tumor. – Example sentence: “Recent advancements in cancer research have led to more targeted therapies that improve patient outcomes.”
Diet – The kinds of food that a person habitually eats, which can significantly impact overall health and disease prevention. – Example sentence: “A balanced diet rich in fruits and vegetables is essential for maintaining a healthy immune system.”
Obesity – A medical condition characterized by excessive body fat accumulation, which poses a risk to health. – Example sentence: “Obesity is a major risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.”
Therapy – Treatment intended to relieve or heal a disorder, often involving medication, surgery, or other interventions. – Example sentence: “Gene therapy holds promise for treating genetic disorders by correcting defective genes.”
Blood – The fluid that circulates in the heart, arteries, capillaries, and veins, carrying nutrients and oxygen to and waste products from all body tissues. – Example sentence: “Blood tests are a crucial diagnostic tool for assessing a patient’s health status.”
Vessels – Tubular structures carrying blood through the tissues and organs; a vein, artery, or capillary. – Example sentence: “The integrity of blood vessels is essential for maintaining proper circulation and preventing cardiovascular diseases.”
Treatment – The management and care of a patient for the purpose of combating a disease or condition. – Example sentence: “Early treatment of infections can prevent complications and improve recovery times.”
Health – The state of being free from illness or injury, encompassing physical, mental, and social well-being. – Example sentence: “Public health initiatives aim to reduce the incidence of preventable diseases through education and vaccination programs.”
Research – The systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources to establish facts and reach new conclusions, often used to advance knowledge in a particular field. – Example sentence: “Biomedical research is critical for developing new drugs and therapies to treat various diseases.”
