Carbon Irradiation Exerts Potent Antiangiogenic Effects via Downregulation of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in Lung and Prostate Cancer Models

Abstract

Among the numerous pro-angiogenic factors discovered, the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) pathway was found to play a central role in regulation of tumor angiogenesis. Therefore, VEGF has emerged as a key target in the field of antiangiogenic cancer therapy. It has been reported that tumors evade the antiangiogenic/anti-cancer effects of photon therapy by compensatory expression of different factors including VEGF. Here, we studied the regulation of VEGF after carbon ion radiation therapy at HIT using the androgen independent human prostate adenocarcinoma- (PC3) and the non-small cell lung cancer (NSCL, A549) xenograft models.