Clinical Trials of Antiangiogenesis Therapy on Gastric Cancer

Both malignant tumor growth and metastasis are dependent upon angiogenesis, a process of new blood vessel formation. Inhibition of this process by specific inhibitors might be able to control tumor growth and metastasis. Therefore, antiangiogenesis thereapy is considered a promising strategy and being studied worldwide. A wide variety of angiogenesis inhibitors have been identified and some of them are under clinical trials in the advanced patients with cancer including gastric cancer. This review summarizes the development and progress of angiogenesis inhibitors in recent decades, and discusses the future direction of antiangiogenesis research, and the potential antiangiogenic agents which are most likely to be translated into standard treatment for gastrointestinal cancer patients either alone or combined with other therapies.