Results of Funded Research with Northwestern University

Researcher:  Holly Anne Hanford

May, 2003

Studies partially supported by the Hairy Cell Leukemia Foundation Research Grant have led to the following conclusions, published in full in Cancer Research.

The studies have confirmed that angiostatin 4.5 causes only endothelial cells, those
that line the blood vessels, to undergo apoptosis, a highly-regulated cell "suicide."  Specifically, we have begun to show the intracellular events occurring within endothelial cells which cause this response to angiostatin 4.5.  This data marks the beginning of an
effort to determine how angiostatin works to inhibit cancer growth and metastasis.   The primary benefit of wholly understanding the mechanism of angiostatin's effect will be the potential for developing pharmaceutical mimics of angiostatin that are easy to produce, cheap, and orally administered.  The full article can be found in the Cancer Research 63, 4275-4280, July 15, 2003.