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Direct evidence that the VEGF-specific antibody bevacizumab has antivascular effects in human rectal cancer

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A Corrigendum to this article was published on 01 June 2004

Abstract

The effects of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) blockade on the vascular biology of human tumors are not known. Here we show here that a single infusion of the VEGF-specific antibody bevacizumab decreases tumor perfusion, vascular volume, microvascular density, interstitial fluid pressure and the number of viable, circulating endothelial and progenitor cells, and increases the fraction of vessels with pericyte coverage in rectal carcinoma patients. These data indicate that VEGF blockade has a direct and rapid antivascular effect in human tumors.

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Figure 1: Effect of treatment on tumors in patients who completed entire combined treatment regimen, and surgery.
Figure 2: Effect of a single injection of bevacizumab on tumor vasculature and FDG uptake.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by two National Cancer Institute grants (R21 CA099237 to C.G.W. and PO1 CA80124 to R.K.J.). D.G.D. is a Cancer Research Institute fellow. R.T.T. is a fellow of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. We thank T. Lee for his contribution to the CT analysis, M. Ancukiewicz, T.P. Padera and W. Strauss for helpful comments, and J. Tooredman for the ELISAs.

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Author notes

  1. Yves Boucher, Emmanuelle di Tomaso, Dan G Duda, Lance L Munn and Ricky T Tong: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02114, Massachusetts, USA

    Christopher G Willett, Yves Boucher, Emmanuelle di Tomaso, Dan G Duda, Lance L Munn, Ricky T Tong, Sergey V Kozin, Alan C Hartford & Rakesh K Jain

  2. Division of Gastroenterology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02114, Massachusetts, USA

    Daniel C Chung

  3. Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02114, Massachusetts, USA

    Dushyant V Sahani & Sanjeeva P Kalva

  4. Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02114, Massachusetts, USA

    Mari Mino & Gregory Y Lauwers

  5. AIDS Research Center/Experimental Hematology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02114, Massachusetts, USA

    Kenneth S Cohen & David T Scadden

  6. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02114, Massachusetts, USA

    Alan J Fischman

  7. Division of Hematology/Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02114, Massachusetts, USA

    Jeffrey W Clark, David P Ryan, Andrew X Zhu & Lawrence S Blaszkowsky

  8. Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02114, Massachusetts, USA

    Paul C Shellito

  9. Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, 20852, Maryland, USA

    Helen X Chen

Authors
  1. Christopher G Willett
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  2. Yves Boucher
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  3. Emmanuelle di Tomaso
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  4. Dan G Duda
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  5. Lance L Munn
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  6. Ricky T Tong
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  7. Daniel C Chung
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  8. Dushyant V Sahani
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  9. Sanjeeva P Kalva
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  10. Sergey V Kozin
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  11. Mari Mino
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  12. Kenneth S Cohen
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  13. David T Scadden
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  14. Alan C Hartford
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  15. Alan J Fischman
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  16. Jeffrey W Clark
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  17. David P Ryan
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  18. Andrew X Zhu
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  19. Lawrence S Blaszkowsky
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  20. Helen X Chen
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  21. Paul C Shellito
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  22. Gregory Y Lauwers
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  23. Rakesh K Jain
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Christopher G Willett or Rakesh K Jain.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Willett, C., Boucher, Y., di Tomaso, E. et al. Direct evidence that the VEGF-specific antibody bevacizumab has antivascular effects in human rectal cancer. Nat Med 10, 145–147 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm988

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm988

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