Fig. 1

Proposed relationship between activated vasculatures found in injured tissue, inflammatory disease, fibrotic disease, and cancer. Injured tissue activates endothelium, which undergoes inflammatory responses and structural changes, including proliferation, loss of pericyte coverage, decreased junctional components and increased immune cell adhesion, that facilitate neoangiogenesis (shown as a sprout) and extravasation. In normal wound healing, inflammation-induced neoangiogenesis eventually ceases and the vessel undergoes pruning, and the tissue returns to homeostasis. In chronic inflammatory conditions, either the injury is never resolved, resulting in continued angiogenesis and chronic inflammatory disease, or the endothelium undergoes rarefaction and EndoMT, resulting in excessive repair and fibrotic disease. Cancer vasculature, while also considered a result of chronic inflammation, exhibits characteristics found in both inflammatory disease and fibrotic disease