Angiogenesis and vascular normalisation models

Anderson and Chaplain's 1998 continuum and discrete models simulated capillary sprouting toward a tumour under growth factors, and Jain's group modelled how abnormal vessels raise interstitial pressure and starve tumours of drug. Jain's vascular normalisation hypothesis, that judicious anti-VEGF therapy prunes immature vessels and transiently restores flow, is supported by imaging in glioblastoma and rectal cancer and explains why bevacizumab helps chemotherapy despite cutting blood supply. These models motivate scheduling anti-angiogenic drugs before chemotherapy or radiotherapy and measuring perfusion during treatment.