The most common causes of cancer related death are lung, colon, breast and prostate cancer. Currently the two most common strategies for targeting cancer involve the development of proapoptotic and antiangiogenesis drugs. The overall aim is to limit the growth of primary tumors and to prevent metastatic progression which is normally responsible for eventual death. Neither approach has yet to bear fruit despite a massive amount of research. 

With respect to antiangiogenesis treatments, of the 55 molecules in development, 43 are still at preclinical stages of research. The search for novel targets thus remains keen. One protein implicated in angiogenesis is angiogenin. First identified in 1985 by Harvard researchers, this protein was the first human tumor derived protein with in vivo angiogenic activity, displaying activity in both the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane and rabbit cornea assays. Angiogenin mRNA is expressed in a wide spectrum of cells and is not correlated to a particular cell phenotype or to cellular transformation although serum levels of angiogenin are increased in patients with certain cancers. Key studies published by the same group of researchers in 1995 demonstrated that a neutralizing antibody and actin an endogenous antagonist of angiogenin both prevented tumor progression. The anticancer effects of actin were free of toxic side-effects and were seen in models of colon and lung cancer. Later studies established the therapeutic activity of chimeric anti-angiogenin antibodies this time in breast cancer and most recently antisense targeting of angiogenin was found to block the growth of prostatic tumors. Not only was tumor growth blocked but the development of metastatic lesions was also reduced. Thus, oligonucleotide and antibody neutralization of angiogenin displays considerable promise in some of the most common causes of cancer related death and the evaluation of these therapeutic candidates in clinical studies is therefore eagerly awaited. Industrial collaboration could considerably expedite such studies and interested parties are sought.