Recombinant adenovirus encoding vasohibin prevents tumor angiogenesis and inhibits tumor growth

Numerous lines of evidence have shown that angiogenesis plays a pivotal role in the development of tumors. Therefore anti-angiogenesis therapy represents a potentially promising approach to cancer therapy. Recently, a new inhibitor called vasohibin was discovered to operate as an intrinsic and highly specific feedback inhibitor in the process of angiogenesis. However, to date, reports on the antitumor and anti-angiogenic properties of vasohibin have been very limited. To explore the potential of vasohibin as an anti-angiogenesis therapeutic, we constructed a recombinant adenovirus encoding vasohibin. Our data showed that the recombinant adenovirus encoding vasohibin could prevent tumor angiogenesis and tumor growth. Notably, angiogenesis in the tumors was prevented without any apparent side-effects. Therefore, the findings suggested that the recombinant adenovirus encoding vasohibin might be valuable as a potential strategy for antitumor angiogenesis therapy in the clinic. (Cancer Sci 2010; 101: 448-452)