The term "antiangiogenic" as used herein means having the activity of suppressing the formation of new blood vessels. Amgiogenesis is related to several pathological conditions such as diabetic retinopathy, growth and metastasis of solid tumors, and various inflammation conditions including rheumatism, psoriasis and the like.
Accordingly, research on antiangiogenic compounds has been undertaken and reported. Such reports include research on, for example, protamine (Nature, 297:307, 1982), a combination of heparin with cortisone acetate (Science, 221:719, 1983), fumagillin and its derivatives, and the like.
In addition, .alpha.-interferon is reported to have antiangiogenic activities and to act well on infantile lethal angiosarcoma.
However, these compounds were found to have problems with activity, maintenance of activity and side effects such as cytotoxicity, fever, bleeding and the like.