Figure 2.

MKI treatment induced hypertension. Inhibition of VEFGR causes hypertension, as VEGFR receptors are present on both healthy vascular endothelial cells and in cancer cells, causing the MKI treatment to also affect healthy endothelial cells [18] (adapted from [18,75]). NO production is inhibited, and the endothelin-1 pathway is activated leading to vasoconstriction. VEGF is important for the integrity of the capillary network and inhibition of the VEGFR leads to reduction in capillary density [75]. VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor), VEGFR (vascular endothelial growth factor receptor), PI3K (phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase), eNOS (endothelial nitric oxide), sGC (soluble guanylate cyclase), cGMP (cyclic guanosine monophosphate), ET-1 (endothelin-1), ET_A (endothelin receptor type A) [18,75]. The figure was drawn using Biorender.com.