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Immunomodulatory effects of anti-angiogenic drugs

Leukemia volume 25, pages 899–905 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

Much progress and significant therapeutic changes have been made in the field of tumor therapy in the past decades. Besides chemotherapy and radiotherapy, a special focus was laid on targeted therapies such as small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and other immunomodulatory drugs, which have become standard therapies and important combination partners in a variety of malignancies. In contrast to the widely established use of these often anti-angiogenic drugs, many functional molecular mechanisms are yet not completely understood. Recent analyses focused not only on their direct anti-tumor responses, but also on their influence on tumor microenvironment, as well as on their effects on malignant and healthy cells. Different anti-angiogenic compounds targeting the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) or platelet-derived growth factor pathways seem to be capable of modulating immune responses, in a positive, as well as apparently harmful manner. For an optimal clinical anti-cancer treatment, a better understanding of these immunomodulatory effects is necessary. Here we summarize recent reports on the immunomodulatory function of lately introduced clinically applied anti-angiogenic compounds, such as the humanized monoclonal antibody against VEGF bevacizumab, the small molecule TKIs sunitinib, sorafenib, imatinib, dasatinib, nilotinib and the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hematology/Oncology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    A Heine, S A E Held, A Bringmann, T A W Holderried & P Brossart

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Heine, A., Held, S., Bringmann, A. et al. Immunomodulatory effects of anti-angiogenic drugs. Leukemia 25, 899–905 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/leu.2011.24

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