Definition and research guide
This page combines a MeSH definition, publication statistics and selected research abstracts. It is a starting point for reading the literature, not a medical textbook or a systematic evidence review.
Content available: 3 complete abstracts (492 words), 9 references. Full article text is not stored or reproduced here; follow the PMID, DOI or PMC links to read the original sources and their access terms.
Definition
Formation of new blood vessels, which is controlled by chemical signals in the body, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). This process involves the migration, growth, and differentiation of endothelial cells, which line the inside wall of blood vessels.
Definition: NLM Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) scope note (Public domain (U.S. National Library of Medicine); attribution requested). View the MeSH record.
Also known as: Angiogeneses.
Where it fits in the MeSH classification
- Broader topics
- Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena
- Narrower topics
- Neovascularization, Pathologic; Neovascularization, Physiologic; Vascular Remodeling
- See also
- Neovascularization, Pathologic; Neovascularization, Physiologic
Related concepts
- Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor
- Endothelial Cells
Research landscape
PubMed indexes 83,516 records tagged with the MeSH heading “Angiogenesis” (counts retrieved 2026-10-29). 15,192 of them (18.2%) were published from 2020 onward, and the busiest period so far is 2010-2019 with 34,448 records.
Reviews account for 16,195 records (19.4%) and meta-analyses for 129. Randomized controlled trials number 494 (0.6%) as a share of all records on the topic. Randomized trials make up only a small share of this literature, so much of what is known comes from laboratory, observational or descriptive work.
Show the data
| Period | Records |
|---|---|
| through 1999 | 8,248 |
| 2000-2009 | 25,628 |
| 2010-2019 | 34,448 |
| 2020 onward | 15,192 |
Publication-type chart data
| Type | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Reviews | 16,195 | 19.4% |
| Meta-analyses | 129 | 0.2% |
| Randomized controlled trials | 494 | 0.6% |
Method: PubMed query "Angiogenesis"[MeSH Terms] with publication-type and date filters, retrieved 2026-10-29.
Reading the evidence in cardiovascular medicine
Cardiovascular medicine has an unusually large body of randomized trials, so the type of outcome matters: hard clinical events such as death, heart attack and stroke carry more weight than changes in blood pressure, cholesterol or imaging markers that only predict risk. Observational studies can show associations but are confounded by age, lifestyle and other illness. Check whether a result is about prevention or treatment, the baseline risk of participants, and the absolute rather than only the relative size of any benefit.
Evidence from open-access studies
These open-access studies come from PubMed’s best-match results for this heading (papers whose main topic it is), ranked here by citation count, with one recent addition. Each abstract is reproduced in full under its recorded open licence so that you can read the authors’ own words. They illustrate the literature; they are not a systematic summary of it. Citation counts measure attention, not reliability or clinical benefit.
| Study / authors | Year | Source label / design | Europe PMC citations | Licence / source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characterizing pancreatic cancer-associated fibroblast heterogeneity in vascular microphysiological systems | 2026 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 2 | cc by PMID 42265391 · DOI · PMC13249731 |
| Vasculogenic tissue nanotransfection accelerates functional recovery after peripheral nerve injury | 2026 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 2 | cc by PMID 41950328 · DOI · PMC13060591 |
| Automated analysis of zebrafish vascular networks using the VISTA-Z pipeline | 2026 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 2 | cc by PMID 41922411 · DOI · PMC13187487 |
Characterizing pancreatic cancer-associated fibroblast heterogeneity in vascular microphysiological systems [1]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC), one of the deadliest cancer types, is dominated by a tumor microenvironment (TME) that is desmoplastic, immunosuppressive, and generally unresponsive to conventional cancer treatments.
- Closing excerpt
- This work provides novel insights into the heterogeneous functions of CAFs in the TME and lays important groundwork for the development of CAF-targeted therapies in PDAC.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (165 words)
Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC), one of the deadliest cancer types, is dominated by a tumor microenvironment (TME) that is desmoplastic, immunosuppressive, and generally unresponsive to conventional cancer treatments. Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts (CAFs) are thought to drive many of the features of PDAC that contribute to treatment resistance, yet CAFs exhibit wide phenotypic heterogeneity with unclear biological and clinical implications. Recent work has identified CAF subtypes - tumor-restraining CAFs (RestCAFs) or tumor-promoting CAFs (ProCAFs) - that correlate with overall survival. Therefore, this study aims to identify CAF subtype-dependent functional effects in the TME using 3D microphysiological systems, focusing primarily on their interactions with vasculature. Microfluidic devices including a RestCAF line demonstrated increased levels of vasculogenesis and extracellular matrix remodeling, while devices containing a ProCAF line exhibited increased angiogenic sprouting and differential immune cell recruitment, such as monocyte migration into the TME. This work provides novel insights into the heterogeneous functions of CAFs in the TME and lays important groundwork for the development of CAF-targeted therapies in PDAC.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 42265391 · DOI · PMC13249731
Vasculogenic tissue nanotransfection accelerates functional recovery after peripheral nerve injury [2]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Peripheral nerve injuries (PNIs) remain a major clinical challenge, often leaving patients with lifelong sensory, motor, and functional impairments despite surgical repair.
- Closing excerpt
- Together, these findings establish TNT-mediated vasculogenic reprogramming as a transformative adjunct to surgical repair of PNIs, offering a clinically translatable strategy to accelerate nerve regeneration and restore function.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (176 words)
Peripheral nerve injuries (PNIs) remain a major clinical challenge, often leaving patients with lifelong sensory, motor, and functional impairments despite surgical repair. While gene and cell therapies hold promise, their translation has been hampered by the lack of safe, efficient, and targeted delivery strategies. Here, we introduce vasculogenic tissue nanotransfection (TNT) as a nonviral, reprogramming-based therapeutic platform to enhance nerve regeneration to augment surgical reconstruction. This one-time, millisecond-scale intervention reprograms resident cells in situ toward a vasculogenic phenotype, fostering neovascularization and vascular remodeling to support axonal regeneration. Through integrated in vitro screening and in vivo validation, we identified an optimized formulation of vasculogenic genes (Etv2, Fli1, and Foxc2; EFF) that maximized reprogramming efficiency and regenerative potential. In a long-segment nerve defect model reconstructed with isografts, TNT-mediated delivery of EFF markedly improved functional recovery, including grip strength and muscle contractility, accompanied by increased vascular density and myelinated axon counts. Together, these findings establish TNT-mediated vasculogenic reprogramming as a transformative adjunct to surgical repair of PNIs, offering a clinically translatable strategy to accelerate nerve regeneration and restore function.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 41950328 · DOI · PMC13060591
Automated analysis of zebrafish vascular networks using the VISTA-Z pipeline [3]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- High-resolution vascular imaging in zebrafish embryos offers unparalleled insight into angiogenesis, yet quantitative analysis remains limited by manual workflows and inconsistent segmentation.
- Closing excerpt
- VISTA-Z is an open-source, scalable platform for reproducible high-throughput quantification of zebrafish vascular architecture, providing a standardised framework for developmental research and preclinical screening
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (151 words)
High-resolution vascular imaging in zebrafish embryos offers unparalleled insight into angiogenesis, yet quantitative analysis remains limited by manual workflows and inconsistent segmentation. To overcome this, we developed VISTA-Z (Vascular Imaging and Segmentation for Topology Analysis in Zebrafish), an automated Python-based pipeline designed to standardise vascular quantification across diverse fluorescent datasets. The workflow combines adaptive contrast enhancement, vessel segmentation using Meijering filtering, artefact removal through segment labelling, and skeleton-based topology analysis with refined branchpoint detection. Metrics are normalised to physical units and imaging depth, enabling reproducible comparisons across experiments. We validated VISTA-Z using multiple endothelial transgenic lines and developmental stages. The pipeline detected subtle and severe phenotypes, including brain vessel loss in foxc1a mutants, brain and trunk vessel loss in kdrl mutants and widespread hyper-angiogenesis in plxnd1 crispants. VISTA-Z is an open-source, scalable platform for reproducible high-throughput quantification of zebrafish vascular architecture, providing a standardised framework for developmental research and preclinical screening
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 41922411 · DOI · PMC13187487
Key reviews and meta-analyses
The most cited review-type papers among PubMed’s best-match results for this heading, listed with bibliographic details only. Follow the links for the full text and access terms.
- Research article Vascular remodelling in cardiovascular diseases: hypertension, oxidation, and inflammation [4]
- Research article Cell communication and relevant signaling pathways in osteogenesis-angiogenesis coupling [5]
- Research article The Distinct Role of HIF-1α and HIF-2α in Hypoxia and Angiogenesis [6]
- Research article Extracellular matrix in vascular homeostasis and disease [7]
- Research article Linking tumour angiogenesis and tumour immunity [8]
- Research article Tumour-associated vasculature in T cell homing and immunity: opportunities for cancer therapy [9]
References
- Blackledge CW, Gullion S, McCabe I, Van NNK, Hariharan A, Luan C, et al.. Characterizing pancreatic cancer-associated fibroblast heterogeneity in vascular microphysiological systems. . 2026. PMID 42265391 · DOI · PMC13249731
- Salazar-Puerta AI, Kheirkhah S, Stranan JP, Harris H, Khattab N, Fukuda M, et al.. Vasculogenic tissue nanotransfection accelerates functional recovery after peripheral nerve injury. . 2026. PMID 41950328 · DOI · PMC13060591
- Rodriguez-Pastrana I, Richens J, Wilkinson RN. Automated analysis of zebrafish vascular networks using the VISTA-Z pipeline. . 2026. PMID 41922411 · DOI · PMC13187487
- Totoń-Żurańska J, Mikolajczyk TP, Saju B, Guzik TJ. Vascular remodelling in cardiovascular diseases: hypertension, oxidation, and inflammation. Clin Sci (Lond). 2024. PMID 38920058 · DOI
- Li S, Cai X, Guo J, Li X, Li W, Liu Y, et al.. Cell communication and relevant signaling pathways in osteogenesis-angiogenesis coupling. Bone Res. 2025. PMID 40195313 · DOI · PMC11977258
- Bakleh MZ, Al Haj Zen A. The Distinct Role of HIF-1α and HIF-2α in Hypoxia and Angiogenesis. Cells. 2025. PMID 40358197 · DOI · PMC12071368
- Zhang L, Zhou J, Kong W. Extracellular matrix in vascular homeostasis and disease. Nat Rev Cardiol. 2025. PMID 39743560 · DOI
- Kabir AU, Subramanian M, Kwon Y, Choi K. Linking tumour angiogenesis and tumour immunity. Nat Rev Immunol. 2026. PMID 40813802 · DOI
- Lanitis E, Irving M, Coukos G. Tumour-associated vasculature in T cell homing and immunity: opportunities for cancer therapy. Nat Rev Immunol. 2025. PMID 40579467 · DOI
About this article
- Sources
- NLM Medical Subject Headings (definition, synonyms); NCBI PubMed (counts, identifiers); Europe PMC (open-access abstracts and citation counts).
- Verification
- Every reference was resolved against PubMed on 2026-10-31; title, year and DOI matched.
- Review state
- automated source verified; no human expert review has been recorded yet.
- Version
- 1, last updated 2026-10-29.
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Evidence strength
EvidenceHelix's computed view of the study designs behind this topic: how common meta-analyses, randomized trials and reviews are, how recent the literature is, and a plain-language reading. It describes the design mix of the literature. It is not a quality appraisal of any study, and it is not medical advice.