Doctors See How Cancer Drug Can Damage Kidneys

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Physicians who use Avastin and any other VEGF inhibitor should be aware of the possibility of side effects elsewhere in the body, said Patricia D'Amore, a senior scientist at the Schepens Eye Institute in Boston, and leader of a study with mice that showed the drug can cause brain damage.

That study showed that Avastin can damage the cell lining that prevents leakage into the brain of fluid from the ventricle, the structure that holds cerebral spinal fluid. That study also showed the kind of blood vessel damage found in the new report, D'Amore said.

"But, in addition, we saw that cells in the ventricle also expressed VEGF and therefore were damaged," she said.

The wider implication of that finding is that VEGF is involved in more than blood vessel growth, D'Amore said. "It has become evident that it has trophic [growth] effects on many nonvascular cells," she said. "This is something that none of us expected to see."

The potential side effects should be taken into account as use widens of Avastin and other VEGF inhibitors now in development, D'Amore said. Some doctors are using the drug against macular degeneration, a condition that causes loss of vision in the elderly.

"In our case, brain pathology, it has been seen in only a few patients treated with Avastin," D'Amore said. "Is it a complication that is going to come up with more chronic use, some kind of maintenance therapy? This is something people need to pay attention to. We have no evidence at all about it, but it is something people should be aware of. All normal tissue is a potential target for Avastin."

More information

To learn more about Avastin, visit the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.