Angiogenesis Research: Extramural Portfolio Supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, 2008-2015.

Abstract

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute funds angiogenesis-related extramural research aimed at improving the understanding of normal and abnormal angiogenesis and translating mechanistic findings into therapeutic interventions. This portfolio analysis of fiscal years 2008 through 2015 shows that the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute awarded an average of 229±26 angiogenesis-related grants with an average cost of $116±20 million per fiscal year. Angiogenesis research was funded through 4 major funding mechanisms, mainly through Research Project Grants (R01s, 64% of the total awards). New awards (type 1) that may represent pursuit of new directions in angiogenesis research accounted for an average of 19±3% of total awards per fiscal year. In the portfolio, 74.1% of awards (65% of total dollars) used in vivo animal models; 9.7% of awards (5% of total dollars) used in vitro methods; 13.7% of awards (27% of total dollars) involved human subject studies (not including clinical trials); and 2.5% of awards (3% of total dollars) supported clinical trials. Public impact was measured by the annual average number of publications per grant (3.3±0.3) and cost ($154±24 thousand) per publication. Our analyses revealed that intussusceptive angiogenesis may represent an understudied mechanism, and therapeutic angiogenesis remains a remarkable challenge and opportunity to treat angiogenesis-related diseases. Angiogenesis denotes the process of new blood vessel formation and growth that is vital for normal embryonic development, patterning of the vascular system, and wound healing. Insufficient, excessive, or aberrant angiogenesis may have significant clinical consequences in diseases, such as stroke, myocardial infarction, cancer, chronic inflammation, and retinopathy.1 These key contributions to physiological and pathological processes support the high significance of research aimed at better understanding the complex regulation of angiogenesis. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the largest funding source for biomedical research in the world, funds angiogenesis-related extramural research (hereafter abbreviated as …