Axitinib is a selective inhibitor of VEGFR, PDGFR, and c-kit tyrosine kinases. Axitinib inhibited the phosphorylation of VEGFR-1, 2 and 3 with IC50 values of 1.2 nM, 0.2 nM and 0.1 to 0.3 nM in cells, respectively. In HUVEC cells, Axitinib inhibited VEGFR-2 stimulated cell survival with about 1000-fold selectivity against FGFR-1. Axitinib also significantly suppressed the phosphorylation of VEGF downstream signaling molecules including Akt, eNOS and ERK1/2. Besides that, axitinib inhibited VEGFR-2 phosphorylation with EC50 value of 0.49 nM in vivo. It delayed tumore growth of human xenograft tumors in mice such as M24met, HCT-116 and SN12C.