Metastatic Niche Treatment 1

One therapy approach described to target both the anchorage and proliferation functions in the metastatic niche are anti-VEGF treatments. This anti-anchorage treatment is helpful in combating metastatic dormancy as it disrupts the niche’s function to enhance mobilization of tumor cells. In breast cancer cells, the anti-VEGF antibody as well as VEGF receptor inhibitor SU1498 were shown to significantly reduce cell adhesion to blood vessels (Shen et al. 2010). As a result, this also inhibits the proliferation of cells in the metastatic niche as blocking cell adhesion to blood vessels does not allow the tumor cells to utilize resources to grow. Although this therapy is appealing, VEGF is a common growth factor in cells throughout the body, making this treatment nonspecific and harmful to other healthy cells as well as cancerous ones.