•  
  •  
 

Pharmacy and Wellness Review

Abstract

In recent years, there have been numerous developments in monoclonal antibodies used as anticancer drugs with a focus on reducing the ability of cancers to metastasize and produce new vasculature. These agents are called angiogenesis inhibitors and although these agents have been proven effective in treating certain types of cancers, production and administration of monoclonal antibodies comes at a steep cost with a severe side effect profile. Under normal physiologic conditions, angiogenesis is an important mechanism to create new blood vessels from preexisting vessels, usually occurring in adults. Tumor cells can hijack the angiogenesis pathway to produce new distant tumors sites, which may lead to poor prognosis. In an ongoing effort to discover alternative therapeutic options for cancer treatment, researchers have discovered that dopamine (DA) is able to inhibit angiogenesis through a mechanism involving vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and the D2 receptors. When the D2 receptor is activated, this causes the VEGF receptor 2 (VEGFR2) to undergo endocytosis thereby preventing VEGF binding and stopping the creation of new vessels. Endocrine and gastrointestinal cancers have a high expression of D2 and VEGF receptors and therefore are potential targets of therapy. Although DA may provide better tolerability and cost benefits, future studies in humans must be conducted to clearly determine its safety and efficacy as a treatment for cancer.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.