Angiogenesis Explained

  • By Susan K. Lewis
  • Posted 07.01.08
  • NOVA scienceNOW

Blood vessel growth—or angiogenesis—is critical for developing fetuses and to heal wounds. But it is also an essential element of how cancerous tumors grow and spread. Here, see a step-by-step explanation of how the process works and how anti-angiogenesis therapies might stop tumors before they become deadly.

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See how cancerous tumors recruit their own blood supply in order to grow and how this process might be stopped.

Credits

Images

(ultrasound)
Isabelle Limbach/istockphoto.com;
(pregnant belly)
Greg Blomberg/istockphoto.com;
(finger with stitches)
Erich Schrempp/Photo Researchers, Inc.;
(blood vessels and tumor)
Courtesy Children's Hospital Boston;
(all illustrations)
© WGBH Educational Foundation/Adapted from original illustration courtesy the Angiogenesis Foundation.

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