Apatinib, a selective VEGFR2 inhibitor, improves the delivery of chemotherapeutic agents to tumors by normalizing tumor vessels in LoVo colon cancer xenograft mice.

Tumor vascular normalization has been proposed as a therapeutic strategy for malignant neoplasms, which can also interpret the synergistic effect of anti-angiogenesis agents combined with chemotherapy. Apatinib (Apa), a highly selective VEGFR2 inhibitor, attracts much attentions due to its encouraging anticancer activity, especially in the clinical trials of combined treatment. In this study, we investigated whether Apa could promote vascular normalization in tumor in a certain time window.