angiogenesis
Meaning of angiogenesis: Angiogenesis is the normal process of forming new blood vessels from existing ones, a process tumors also exploit to secure their own blood supply.
Definition of angiogenesis
Angiogenesis is the process by which new blood vessels form from existing ones. It occurs normally throughout life, contributing to wound healing, the growth of tissue during development, and the cyclical changes of the lining of the uterus, and it is tightly regulated by a balance of chemical signals that promote or restrain new vessel growth.
Tumors can hijack this same process, releasing chemical signals that stimulate nearby blood vessels to sprout new branches toward the tumor. This tumor angiogenesis supplies the growing mass with the oxygen and nutrients it needs to enlarge and provides a route by which tumor cells can enter the bloodstream and spread to other parts of the body.
Because tumor growth depends so heavily on this new blood supply, angiogenesis has become a target of certain cancer treatments designed to block the signals that stimulate new vessel formation, aiming to limit a tumor's access to blood flow.
How angiogenesis is built
- angi/o Combining form · Greek vessel
- -genesis Suffix · Greek formation, origin, production
A medical term is read from its ending backwards: the suffix first, then the prefix, then the root. See all 223 word parts.
Used in a sentence
The treatment was designed to inhibit angiogenesis and limit the tumor's blood supply.
Good to know
Angiogenesis is a normal and necessary process in wound healing and development, so its presence in tissue is not itself abnormal, and it becomes clinically significant mainly when a tumor recruits its own blood supply.
Word origin
Where “angiogenesis” comes from
Formed from Greek angeion, meaning vessel, and genesis, meaning origin or creation.