Mechanism of Action
Angiogenesis Modulation
Last updated
Changing the formation of new blood vessels from existing ones, usually through the VEGF family of growth factors and their receptors. The word modulation is deliberate. The same machinery can be pushed up, as in wound repair, or held down, as in tumour work, so a record here should state which direction is claimed.
Why it matters here
New vessel growth is one of the concrete, measurable steps in the Wound Healing Cascade, so this is where a repair claim can be traced to something specific rather than left as the word healing.
What it is not
Promoting vessel growth is not universally desirable: the property that helps a healing wound is the one deliberately suppressed elsewhere, so angiogenic does not mean regenerative or safe. Increased vessel formation in a membrane assay is also not increased perfusion of an injured tissue.
Also called
- angiogenesis
- vegf signaling
- neovascularization
- angiogenic signalling
- new vessel formation
- vascular remodeling
VEGF is vascular endothelial growth factor, the best-known signal in this process. Neovascularisation means forming new vessels and vascular remodelling means reshaping existing ones; they are related but not identical.