Cancer Biology

Angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing vessels, is a critical process that occurs during normal development and tumor formation. Targeting tumor angiogenesis by blocking the activity of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has demonstrated some clinical benefit; nevertheless there is a great need to target additional angiogenic pathways. We have found that the human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) fibrin bead sprouting assay (FBA) is a robust and predictive in vitro assay to evaluate the activity of angiogenesis inhibitors. Here, we describe an optimized FBA protocol for the assessment of biological inhibitors of angiogenesis and the automated quantification of key endpoints.