Peptide Inhibitors of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A: Current Situation and Perspectives

Vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs) are the family of extracellular signaling proteins involved in processes angiogenesis. VEGFA overexpression and altered regulation pathways lead to pathological angiogenesis, which contributes progression various diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration cancer. Monoclonal antibodies decoy receptors have been extensively used anti-angiogenic therapies for neutralization VEGFA. However, multiple side effects, solubility aggregation issues, involvement compensatory VEGFA-independent pro-angiogenic mechanisms limit use existing inhibitors. Short chemically synthesized binding peptides a promising alternative these full-length proteins. In this review, we summarize anti-VEGFA identified so far discuss molecular basis their inhibitory activity highlight pharmacological potential drugs.