Antiangiogenesis therapy for breast cancer: an update and perspectives from clinical trials

The development of new blood vessels is a crucial step in breast cancer growth, progression and dissemination, making it a promising therapeutic target. Breast cancer has a heterogeneous nature and the diversity of responsible angiogenic pathways between different tumors has been studied for many years. Inhibiting different targets in these pathways has been under investigation in preclinical and clinical studies for more than decades, among which antibody against vascular endothelial growth factor is the most studied. However, the clinical impact from antiangiogenic treatment alone or in combination with standard chemotherapeutic regimens has been relatively small till today. In this review, we summarize the most clinically relevant data from breast cancer treatment clinical trials and discuss safety and efficacy of common antiangiogenic therapies as well as biological predictive markers.