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Treatment of solid tumors and metastases by fibrinogen-targeted anticancer drug therapy.

Lu da Y, Chen XL, Ding J

School of Life Sciences, Department of Bioengineering, Shanghai University, 99 Shangda Rd., Shanghai 200444, China. ludayong@sh163.net

The accumulation of fibrin/fibrinogen and other coagulation factors in and around solid tumors and metastatic foci has been recognized for a century as an aspect of cancer pathology. On this basis, anticoagulants and fibrinolytic agents have been deployed as adjuvant anticancer therapies, but they have proved clinically useful for only a small proportion of tumors and they only control the functions of the coagulant components. Overuse or long-term application of anticoagulants and fibrinolytic agents often lead to undesirable side-effects. Here, we propose that anticancer drugs that act by different mechanisms can inhibit tumor-associated coagulation, and it may be possible to develop drugs that specifically targeting tumor-related coagulation, have specific cytotoxic effects on tumor and metastatic cells. We provide laboratory and clinical evidence supporting the hypothesis and offer proposals for future applications.

Published 6 November 2006 in Med Hypotheses, 68(1): 188-93.
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