Targeting tumor angiogenesis for cancer prevention

Abstract

Advances in the knowledge of the main hallmarks of cancer will provide the basis for the identification and development of therapeutic strategies to either prevent the occurrence of precancerous lesions or to delay their progression to invasive disease. A deregulated and persistently activated angiogenesis is essential for tumor growth and metastasis, facilitating their sustenance through the availability of nutrients and oxygen, as well as the removal of metabolic wastes and carbon dioxide. Although specialized diets are not the only way to decrease the chances to develop cancer, those that are enriched in antiangiogenic molecules could be used to prevent the activation of the angiogenic switch in the early steps of tumor progression as well as in the micrometastasis awakening from their dormant state. The molecular mechanisms controlling tumor angiogenesis and the potential of the use of dietary derived inhibitors of angiogenesis as chemopreventive agents will be discussed in this chapter.