Joint Research Division Vascular Biology of the Medical Faculty Mannheim (CBTM), University of Heidelberg,
and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance)
What we are doing... |
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Tumor angiogenesis research has
evolved to become one of the most rapidly growing biomedical
disciplines. It is also a conceptually novel avenue in cancer
research, as it looks beyond classical tumor cell-centric
oncological research strategies to focus on the stable tumor
stroma instead of the neoplastically transformed tumor cell
compartment itself. Tumor angiogenesis research has also defined
a new paradigm in oncology research which currently drives
developments towards a more complex molecular understanding of
later stages of tumor progression as they are associated with
metastatic dissemination. |
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Fig. 1: Change of paradigm in angiogenesis research: The simplistic view of
an invading capillary sprout is increasingly replaced by an
appreciation of vascular morphogenesis as a complex three
dimensional process that is regulated by an intricate
interplay of a series of hierarchically structured
signalling systems. |
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The field of
angiogenesis moved beyond the simplistic concepts of an
invading and migrating capillary sprout to increasingly
appreciate vascular morphogenesis as a complex three
dimensional process that involves distinct steps of
organization and anastomotic network formation, asymmetric
flow-driven orientation into arteries, capillaries and veins,
mechanisms of maturation by recruitment of covering mural
cells, and eventually molecularly poorly understood
mechanisms of organotypic differentiation (Fig. 1). Moreover,
angiogenesis modulates and is modulated by the environment.
Thus, the hitherto simplistic concept of angiogenesis as an
individual mechanism has to be extended in order to study
the role of angiogenesis associated with certain
pathological conditions as tumor growth. |
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Our laboratory research program is aimed at understanding the involvement of the different key players of the angiogenic and lymphangiogenic with tumor growth, invasion and metastatic tumor progression. Primarily focussing on vascular receptor tyrosine kinases (VEGF/VEGFR/NP, ephrin/Eph, Semaphorin/NP/Plexin, Angiopoietin/Tie), each of the lab’s three teams has defined its research program and a primary technological platform expertise facilitating a strong tutorial atmosphere and the distribution of the resources within the team.
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