Cancer angiogenesis: Targeting the heel of Achilles

Angiogenesis, which usually heralds a poor prognosis for patients, is essential for malignancy. However, this same process is useful in providing a direct and systemic route for the delivery of cytotoxics to the actively growing parts of the tumour. In fact, there is even some merit to stabilising (normalising) the tumour vasculature to aid drug delivery to the deeper recesses of a growing tumour. Additionally, natural biological inhibitors of angiogenesis such as pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) are being developed to test whether they have better activity than older ones such as endostatin. The field of cancer angiogenesis, more than 35 years old now, has seen a few drugs reaching the market, such as Avastinw. However, there have been a multitude of failed ones, due to lack of activity, especially when tested in vivo and some failing at clinical trials. This review looks at the current state of play in the area of cancer angiogenesis, and development of therapies to target it

Mucosal delivery of bacterial antigens and CpG oligonucleotides formulated in biphasic lipid vesicles in pigs

The ineffectiveness of simple delivery of soluble antigens to mucosal membranes for immunization has stimulated extensive studies of strategies for appropriate delivery systems and adjuvants. Biphasic lipid vesicles are formulations suitable for the delivery of proteins, peptides, and oligo/polynucleotides. The purpose of these studies was to investigate the ability of biphasic lipid vesicles (as vaccinetargeting adjuvants) containing a bacterial antigen and unmethylated oligonucleotides containing CGdinucleotides-CpG motifs (CpG ODNs) to induce systemic and mucosal immune responses in pigs. Results showed that while the protein, either alone or with CpG ODNs, did not induce mucosal immune responses, administration of antigen and CpG ODNs in biphasic lipid vesicles resulted in induction of boty systemic and local antibody responses after immunization using a combined mucosal/systemic approach