ABSTRACT
Blood vessels provide essential nutrients to almost every organ system. It follows
that abnormal blood vessel growth is implicated in many clinically relevant
disease processes. Excess vessel growth is a feature of cancer, arthritis, psoriasis,
diabetic retinopathy, infections, obesity, allergy, atherosclerosis, nasal polyps,
and endometriosis, to name but a few. Inadequate vessel growth or excess vessel
regression is most frequently linked to tissue ischemia, such as occurs during the
evolution of a myocardial infarct, stroke, or limb ischemia. However, abnormal
vessel regression also contributes to many other disorders including, for example,
pre-eclampsia, age-dependent skin changes, nephropathies, bone loss, diabetes,
macular degeneration, and such neurodegenerative disorders as amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis.
