Hemangiomas are the most common tumor of infancy. They are benign tumors derived from cells that line blood vessels (endothelial cells) and spontaneously regress as a child gets older. Jack Arbiser and colleagues, at Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, have now provided new insight into the molecules that control hemangioma growth and found that inhibiting a key molecule substantially inhibits hemangioma growth in a mouse model. Specifically, the protein Nox4 was found to be crucial for hemangioma growth in a mouse model and the drug fulvene 5 was found to be a potent in vitro inhibitor of Nox4 and to substantially inhibit in vivo hemangioma growth. The authors therefore suggest that targeting Nox4, potentially using fulvene derivatives, might provide a way to attenuate hemangioma growth.
TITLE: Fulvene-5 potently inhibits NADPH oxidase 4 and blocks the growth of endothelial tumors in mice
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Jack L. Arbiser
Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Phone: (404) 727-5063; Fax: (404) 727-0923; E-mail: jarbise@emory.edu .
View the PDF of this article at: https://www.the-jci.org/article.php?id=33877
Journal of Clinical Investigation