Emerging antiangiogenic therapies for non-small-cell lung cancer

Abstract

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Antiangiogenic therapy has increasingly been studied for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Bevacizumab is the only approved antiangiogenic agent for NSCLC and has shown progression-free survival benefits in large Phase III studies and an overall survival benefit in the Phase III E4599 trial in advanced nonsquamous NSCLC. New antiangiogenic treatment strategies are being evaluated that target multiple receptors within a family (VEGF receptor [VEGFR]-1, VEGFR-2) or multiple angiogenic pathways (targets VEGFR and PDGF receptor pathways), and agents that inhibit alternative mediators of angiogenesis (integrins and established vasculature). As data become available from ongoing studies, it will be important to determine how these new antiangiogenic agents will best fit into the current NSCLC treatment paradigm.

Keywords::

• angiogenesis
• antiangiogenic therapy
• fibroblast growth factor receptor
• non-small-cell lung cancer
• platelet-derived growth factor receptor
• vascular endothelial growth factor receptor

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This work was supported by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The authors meet criteria for authorship as recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, fully accept responsibility for all content and editorial decisions, and were involved at all stages of manuscript development. The authors received no compensation related to the development of the manuscript. Thierry Jahan has received research funding from Novartis, Eli Lily, Genentech/OSI Pharmaceuticals, ImClone, Pfizer and Morphotek, and has served as a consultant for Poniard Pharmaceuticals. Collin Blakely has no conflicts to report. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Writing and editorial assistance was provided by Staci Heise of MedErgy, which was contracted by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for these services.