Researchers identify Achilles heel of common child...(ions were capable of setting off a chain...)

These findings open up new treatment options, according to study leader Bjorn R. Olsen, the Hersey Professor of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Developmental Biology and Dean for Research at Harvard School of Dental Medicine. "What the data suggests is that any therapy that is directed against vascular endothelial growth factor anti-VEGF therapy is the rational therapy to use in these tumors," says Olsen.

This will be good news to the many children and families affected by the disorder. Though most cases have little impact on children's lives and many cases even go unnoticed, Olsen estimates that 10 percent of infantile hemangioma sufferers experience significant side-effects. These can include psychological stress brought on by the social challenges of disfigurement, as well as physical complications caused by large, badly-placed tumors that obstruct vision, respiration, or other bodily functions.

Anti-VEGF therapies have already been approved for other conditions, including macular degeneration and certain types of cancer. The next step for Olsen's team is to get approval to test these therapies in clinical trials.

Meanwhile, Olsen and his colleagues continue to mine these tumors for more answers. "After finding out why these tumors grow, we are now starting to direct our research at understanding why they regress," he said. "Knowing that and being able to induce that regression in the rapidly growing tumors, or induce regression of the blood vessels in malignant tumors, would be very effective."

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