........ published in NEWSLETTER # 48
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........ published in NEWSLETTER # 48
ANGIOGENESIS IN HEALTH AND DISEASES
by Professor P.I. Lelkes, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Milwaukee (U.S.A.)
This book (NATO ASI SERIES A227) contains the Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on `Angiogenesis in Health and Disease' held in Porto Hydra, Greece, in June 1991.
Angiogenesis describes the formation of new blood vessels, which arise as outgrowths from existing vessels. In many physiological processes such as ovulation and wound healing angiogenesis is involved for a relatively short time. Otherwise under normal physiological conditions in the adult organism angiogenesis is an extremely slow process. By contrast, in certain disease states such as diabetic retinopathy, arthritis, chronic inflammation, hemangiomas, etc., angiogenesis persists and contributes to the pathology of these disease states. Some 50 such `angiogenic diseases' have been described where angiogenesis is involved. Also in tumor growth and metastasis angiogenesis is an essential process and precedes neoplastic transformation. Hence, angiogenesis could become an important diagnostic tool and a target developing therapeutic agents.
The book, as the meeting, is organized into various chapters which discuss in detail: (1) Development of the Vascular System; (2) the Biology of Endothelial Cells and Angiogenesis; (3) Angiogenesis in Disease States; and (4) Promoters and Inhibitors of Angiogenesis. Finally, two more practically oriented chapters focus on a) Therapeutic Potential of Promoters and Inhibitors of Angiogenesis and b) on Methodologies for assaying angiogenic phenomena.
This book will provide insight into the complex phenomenon of angiogenesis for advanced graduate students or postdoctoral researchers interested in a new field. This book will also be valuable to experienced investigators who want to keep up with novel developments from the basic scientific as well as the clinical point of view.
Reference books: A109, A153, A166, A175, A208, A227, A235, E41