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"In addition, other small molecules which inhibit VEGF have also shown outstanding clinical antitumor activity with dramatic therapeutic effects for patients worldwide." "Dr.

Dvorak's seminal discoveries in basic science have led to significant clinical benefits for cancer patients, perfectly fitting the unique criteria of the Albert Szent-Gyorgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research," said Sujuan Ba, Ph.D., NFCR Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Chair of the Szent-Gyorgyi Prize Committee.

Published in 1983 in the journal Science, Harold Dvorak, M.D.

and his colleagues were the first to show that tumor cells secreted VPF and that a blocking antibody to VPF could prevent the devastating edema and fluid accumulation characteristic of ovarian, breast, and many other human cancers.

This discovery laid the foundation and also provided the molecular basis for the entire angiogenesis field and what is now one of modern medicines most promising anti-cancer hopes.

In 1986, Dr.

Dvorak went on to demonstrate in the journal Cancer Research that VPF was secreted by a variety of human tumor cell lines and proposed that VPF was in part responsible for the abnormal vasculature seen in human tumors.

As a result, he and other investigators demonstrated that VPF was capable of stimulating endothelial cel...