Offering the most current and complete coverage of nucleoside analog activity in oncology and hematology, this single-source volume includes topics from pharmacology to previously unpublished clinical findings on the pivotal role of fludarabine, cladribine, and pentostatin in the management of diseases, such as chronic lymphocytic and hairy cell leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, membranous nephropathy, and rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis.

Multiple Myeloma (MM) is the second most common type of blood cancer, resulting from an overproduction of cancerous infection-fighting white blood cells, known as plasma cells. Plasma cells are a crucial part of the immune system responsible for the production of antibodies. Bortezomib is a promising anticancer drug targeting the proteasome. This proteasome inhibitor induces cell stress and apoptosis in the cancer cells. While multiple mechanisms are likely to be involved, proteasome inhibition may prevent the degradation of pro-apoptotic factors, permitting activation of programmed cell death in neoplastic cells dependent upon the suppression of proapoptotic pathways. This monograph on bortezomib is a valuable source of information for researchers and clinicians from the fields of oncology and pharmacology, working either in academia or the pharmaceutical industry.

Treating cancer has always been a major challenge. Although great strides in treatment have taken place in recent years, all too often current treatments are less than effective, or patients relapse. Newer methods of cancer treatment, namely targeted therapy and immunotherapy have generated great excitement in the scientific community. These newer methods of cancer treatment hold promise for patients who otherwise may have few options. Using the principles of health literacy, this updated edition includes many new therapies and describes the essential features of cancer treatments available to the general public in an engaging and stimulating manner. A simple, question/answer format and the use of illustrations, tables, charts, and boxes that highlight definitions, facts, and website links provide more detailed information. Features: Provides questions and answers about the characteristics of cancer, diagnosis, classifications, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, adoptive cell therapy, new developments, and more Cites many new therapies and includes numerous in-text Web links to information at the National Institutesof Health, the National Cancer Institute, journals, and other online sources Uses animations, practical tips, charts and tables, figures, and photos to explain topics under discussion.

Biostatistics for Oncologists is the first practical guide providing the essential biostatistical concepts, oncology-specific examples, and applicable problem sets for medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, and surgical oncologists. The book also serves as a review for medical oncology and radiation oncology residents or fellows preparing for in-service and board exams. All examples are relevant to oncology and demonstrate how to apply core conceptual knowledge and applicable methods related to hypothesis testing, correlation and regression, categorical data analysis and survival analysis to the field of oncology. The book also provides guidance on the fundamentals of study design and analysis. Written for oncologists by oncologists, this practical text demystifies challenging statistical concepts and provides concise direction on how to interpret, analyze, and critique data in oncology publications, as well as how to apply statistical knowledge to understanding, designing, and analyzing clinical trials. With practical problem sets and twenty-five multiple choice practice questions with answers, the book is an indispensable review for anyone preparing for in-service exams, boards, MOC, or looking to hone a lifelong skill. Key Features: Practically explains biostatistics concepts important for passing the hematology, medical oncology, and radiation oncology boards and MOC exams. Provides guidance on how to read, understand, and critique data in oncology publications. Gives relevant examples that are important for analyzing data in oncology, including the design and analysis of clinical trials. Tests your comprehension of key biostatistical concepts with problem sets at the end of each section and a final section devoted to board-style multiple choice questions and answers Includes digital access to the eBook

Handbook of Geriatric Oncology is a practical resource for oncologists and related clinicians who want to provide comprehensive, patient-centered care to the elderly cancer patient. Divided into nine succinct sections, it includes topics spanning an Overview of Geriatric Oncology and Aging, Geriatric Syndromes, Geriatric Assessment, Select Cancers Commonly Diagnosed in the Elderly, Communication with the Older Cancer Patient, the Nursing Home Patient with Cancer, Models of Care and Survivorship, Palliative Care, and Integrative Medicine. Complex issues such as the physiologic changes of aging and their effect on cancer, corresponding social and psychological aspects that accompany aging and a cancer diagnosis, assessment of frailty, managing comorbid conditions and diseases, effective communication among healthcare providers, the patient and caregivers, as well as the risks and benefits of cancer screening, are made simpler with helpful clinical guidance and clinical pearls. Spearheaded by world experts in geriatric oncology from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, this book is the definitive resource for oncologists and related clinicians to meet the demands of clinical management along the continuum of geriatric cancer care. Key Features: Provides best practices for evaluating geriatric syndromes such as functional dependency, falls, cognitive impairment and dementia, delirium, depression and anxiety, social isolation as well as syndromes related to nutrition, comorbid conditions, and polypharmacy. Includes practical guidance on when to treat and when not to treat cancer in older patients Discusses unique factors associated with breast cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, bladder cancer, pancreatic cancer, head and neck cancers, and myelodysplastic syndromes in the elderly that impact care plans and treatment.

Molecular Therapies of Cancer comprehensively covers the molecular mechanisms of anti-cancer drug actions in a comparably systematic fashion. While there is currently available a great deal of literature on anti-cancer drugs, books on the subject are often concoctions of invited review articles superficially connected to one another. There is a lack of comprehensive and systematic text on the topic of molecular therapies in cancer. A further deficit in the relevant literature is a progressive sub-specialization that typically limits textbooks on cancer drugs to cover either pharmacology or medicinal chemistry or signal transduction, rather than explaining molecular drug actions across all those areas; Molecular Therapies of Cancer fills this void. The book is divided into five sections: 1. Molecular Targeting of Cancer Cells; 2. Emerging and Alternative Treatment Modalities; 3. Molecular Targeting of Tumor-Host Interactions; 4. Anti-Cancer Drug Pharmacokinetics; and 5. Supportive Therapies.

This book provides an up-to-date review of recently identified natural anti-tumor compounds from various natural origins including plants, fungi, endophytic fungi and marine organisms. It also includes discussion of new areas such as biotechnology and nanoparticles. Chapters explain the challenges and developments in anti-cancer drug discovery approaches, traditional remedies for prevention and treatment of cancer, marine-derived anti-cancer compounds, and antibiotics used as anti-cancer agents, as well as different classes of terpenoids and carbohydrates, which have been the subject of discussion in this field as efficient anti-cancer candidates. This book will be a concise guide for researchers in the field of pharmaceutical sciences, students and residents in pharmacy and medicine as well as those researching phytochemistry and natural products.

This book presents the first comprehensive exploration of the dynamic potential of microtubules anti-cancer targets. Written by leading anti-cancer researchers, this groundbreaking volume collects the most current microtubule research available and investigates the potential of microtubules in cancer therapy.

Handbook of Gastrointestinal Cancers is a practical guide to the management of colorectal, pancreatic, hepatocellular, gastric, and esophageal cancers as well as other cancers of the upper and lower GI tract. Edited by a multidisciplinary group of oncologists from leading institutions, this book is an essential day-to-day reference for evidence-based treatment and patient care. The handbook focuses on treatment strategies and approaches to cancerous GI tumors that are transforming the recent oncological landscape, including expert-given guidance on methods such as neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy, surgical transplant, radiation therapy, molecular diagnostic testing leading to molecularly targeted therapy, and immunotherapy. With so many advances in the current field, it is increasingly difficult for early-career practitioners to grasp the entirety of practices and for seasoned oncologists to keep up with newly approved therapies, side effects to treatments, and special clinical management considerations, but this handbook addresses it all. Organized by major GI disease sites and featuring "How I Treat" case vignettes from world experts for common and uncommon management considerations, the handbook brings an experience-based perspective to these tough-to-treat areas. The treatment strategies and applications set forth in the chapters are pertinent to clinical situations and clinical decision-making encountered in practice. Handbook of Gastrointestinal Cancers is a valuable resource for medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, and surgeons treating and managing gastrointestinal cancers as well as trainees in medical, radiation, and surgical oncology programs needing an accessible point of care resource. Key Features: Provides treatment plans and recommendations for each stage of a range of gastrointestinal cancers, including colorectal, pancreatic, and hepatocellular cancers plus more Includes patient vignettes told from the physician's point of view within each clinical chapter Outlines special considerations for the elderly and for survivors of GI cancers Highlights important clinical guidance on nutritional and palliative concerns commonly seen in patients with GI cancers

A critical review our current understanding of camptothecins, their shortcomings, and of the possibilities for improving their clinical performance. The authors discuss new camptothecin analog development, drug delivery issues for optimizing their anticancer activity, and their potential use in a variety of different cancers. Additional chapters describe what is known about the biochemistry, the pharmacology, and the chemistry of the camptothecins, including the mechanism of topoisomerase and how camptothecins poison this enzyme, the use of animal models in defining the anticancer potential of camptothecins, and the question of camptothecin resistance.

Despite significant advances in cancer treatment and measures of neoplastic progression, drug effect (or early detection, overall cancer incidence has increased, pharmacodynamic markers), and markers that measure cancer-associated morbidity is considerable, and overall prognosis as well as predict responses to specific therapy. cancer survival has remained relatively flat over the past All these biomarkers have the potential to greatly augment several decades (1,2). However, new technology the development of successful chemoprevention therapies, allowing exploration of signal transduction pathways, but two specific types of biomarkers will have the most identification of cancer-associated genes, and imaging of immediate impact on successful chemopreventive drug tissue architecture and molecular and cellular function is development-those that measure the risk of developing increasing our understanding of carcinogenesis and cancer invasive life-threatening disease, and those whose mo- progression. This knowledge is moving the focus of cancer lation can "reasonably predict" clinical benefit and, therapeutics, including cancer preventive treatments, to therefore, serve as surrogate endpoints for later-occurring drugs that take advantage of cellular control mechanisms clinical disease. Thus far, the biomarker that best measures to selectively suppress cancer progression. these two phenomena is intraepithelial neoplasia (IEN) Carcinogenesis is now visualized as a multifocal, because it is a near obligate precursor to cancer.

There have been tremendous recent advances in the pharmacotherapy, dose regimens, and combinations used to treat cancer and for the treatment or prevention of the spread of disease. As a direct result of these advances, there are an increasing number of cancer survivors, although research dealing with chemotherapy-induced pain is still in its early years. Written for pain management specialists, oncologists, pharmacologists, students, and primary care practitioners, Chemotherapy-Induced Neuropathic Pain provides insight into the important area of chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain. It reviews the basic and clinical research into the normal physiology of pain transmission pathways, neuropathic pain pathology, the chemotherapeutic drug mechanisms of action and adverse effects, chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, and drug discovery efforts for treatment. The contributors comprise an impressive list of clinical and basic science experts in the fields of pain mechanisms and pain management. Included are clinical directors of pain clinics and clinical research facilities, directors of large academic pain research laboratories, analgesic drug developers, and presidents of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), Association of Chronic Pain Patients (ACPP), and the British Pain Society (BPS). Through them, the book provides the reader with an exceptional opportunity to acquire a fundamental understanding of the basic concepts related to this topic.

The updated Fourth Edition of Current Cancer Therapeutics offers contributions by by more than 60 renowned authors. The book provides an insightful guide to the overwhelming influx of new information and knowledge on an array of cancer types, as well as protocols for treatment and supportive care. Cutting-edge information, along with with a variety of professionally prepared tables and charts, makes this an unparalleled resource for all healthcare professionals.

Deriving from Pratt's Fundamentals of Chemotherapy (OUP, 1973), Chemotherapy of Infection (OUP, 1977), and The Antimicrobial Drugs (OUP, 1986), this superb text surveys the drugs used to treat bacterial, fungal, parasitic and viral infections. It describes in comprehensive detail the mechanisms for both the antimicrobial actions and the adverse clinical effects of the these drugs. No other book provides such a thorough yet readily accessible discussion of how the body handles antibiotics. For this edition Eric Scholar has joined Dr Pratt as co-author, and the entire text has been updated. Two completely new chapters on the quinolones and antiretroviral agents have been added. With over 3500 references and numerous charts and tables summarizing each drug's pharmacokinetic properties as well as microbial susceptibility, this is an invaluable resource for graduate students in pharmacology and microbiology, medical students, pharmacy students, infectious disease specialists, clinical pharmacists, and clinicl microbiologists.

This is the third volume of our series Progress in Anti-Cancer Chemo therapy. Following the strategy of the first two volumes, it covers selected aspects of progress in this fast moving field of Oncology, with contribu tions from some of the world's best known leaders in both basic and clin ical research. This year we focused on seven areas: Three prominent Clinical investigators reviewed conceptual advances in cancer research. Dr Buzdar presented a history and overview of the protection of human subjects who participate in clinical research, and the mechanisms developed to assure the ethical conduct of research on human beings. Frei reviewed an exciting and rapidly moving area of che motherapy of solid tumors, including a cogent discussion of the issues related to dose-intensification. Fisher summarized conceptual advances in our therapeutic approach to breast cancer and the paradigm shifts that lead us to our current management strategies. From this summary he pro jected breast cancer research into the future, a daunting task under any circumstance. Fundamental research in cancer biology has been responsible for our improved understanding of the development and progession of malignant disease. Such understanding will lead to improved diagnosis, therapy, and eventually, prevention. Isaacs reviews the area of hereditary breast cancer, a topic undergoing rapid transformation and with mUltiple impli cations in the daily practice of medicine. Fidler, an international expert in metastasis research reviews the potential utility of angiogenesis inhib itors in research and the therapeutic ramifications."

Cancer is a major issue in the provision of health care. It is estimated that one in four people in developed countries are likely to develop it at some time. As longevity steadily increases, the incidence of malignant disease is expected to rise further. Important advances in the control of cancer have taken place and curative treatment has improved, notably in some of the rarer tumours, particularly in children. Advances in the more common cancers have been less marked, although adjunctive systemic treatment and population screening are lowering mortality from the most prevalent cance- carcinoma of the breast. Despite this progress, complete control of malignant disease is still a long way off. However, our understanding of the molecular biology of cancer has increased enormously in recent years and the application of this knowledge holds considerable promise for developing new therapeutic strategies. As for prevention, the cause of most cancers is still poorly understood although it is clear that tobacco avoidance would prevent most lung cancers and several others. Cancer is studied at many different levels: molecular and cellular biology, pathology in patients (particularly clinical trials), and prevention and populations (epidemiology). The psychosocial problems caused to patients and their families are being increasingly recognized and subjected to systematic study. Workers in the field, therefore, range from basic scientists to epidemiologists, from hospital specialists to community support teams. Each needs to have at least some knowledge of the role the others play.

There is now increasing awareness by the general public in European countries that prostate cancer is a serious threat to health, and this has created higher expectations for improved and more effective methods for detecting and treating the disease. However, urologists are very conscious of the limitations of the diagnostic methods that are available and are even more concerned about the apparent lack of therapeutic advances made during the past 50 years since Huggins discovered the fundamental principles of endocrine treatment for is theo prostate cancer. Recent efforts to detect the disease when it retically "curable" have been successful, certainly in the USA, but this has highlighted our uncertainty about the best treatment for early stage prostate cancer, and there is no doubt that radical pro statectomy is sometimes carried out on men who may not be threa tened by their illness. While it is generally accepted that many men with prostate cancer will die of old age rather than this malignancy, it cannot be ignored that this disease kills many others in a process that is frequently lingering, miserable, and humiliating, not only for the victim but also his family. There are many important issues about prostate cancer that remain unclear at the present time, some of which are addressed by the reviews in this book. The debate about early detection and screening can arouse considerable heat in otherwise placid urological mee tings."

During the past decade, a significant amount of research has been conducted on phytopharmaceuticals. Today, a growing body of evidence demonstrates the efficacy of a wide variety of natural products and affirms their potential in the treatment of cancer. Phytopharmaceuticals in Cancer Chemoprevention focuses on the role of natural supplements in cancer prevention and therapy. The first section covers cancer epidemiology, as well as cancer statistics, current therapies, and potential toxicities involved with existing cancer drugs. The second section begins by discussing the pathophysiology of cancer including mechanistic and molecular aspects of cancer biology, and then explains the etiology of breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, tobacco and cancer, and gastrointestinal tract cancers, and concludes with the various risk factors related to obesity, exercise and aging. The third section covers phytopharmaceuticals and focuses on cancer health risk factors and the protective abilities of various natural products. The final section features commentary on cancer susceptibility and the value of natural remedies for healthy living. With contributions from a diverse panel of renowned scientists and cancer biologists, this book covers a broad spectrum of phytopharmaceuticals in relation to their prospective roles in the future of cancer prevention and treatment. It is a valuable resource for nutrition scientists, oncologists, and dietitians in their efforts to conquer the challenge of cancer.

During the last few decades, there has been a tremendous improvement in the treatment of cancer. There is evidence that this trend is continuing, based on the achievements re sulting from the combined efforts of clinicians and basic re search workers. This book is an example of such interaction and collaboration. It was prepared by authors representing both areas of work. Most of the work reported in this book is not merely theoretical, but has been experimentally successfully tested and sometimes applied clinically. This work has, however, not yet been generalized and practiced on a wide scale. Some of the results reported here relate to new aspects and open new horizons for future progress. This book will be of great value for both clinicians and basic research workers. VICC Treatment and Rehabilitation Programme ISMAIL ELSEBAI Chairman Preface The three main approaches to the treatment of cancer are surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. Today, all malignant neoplasms are managed by one or more of these modalities, with varying success rates depending on the type of tumor, its degree of spread, and the knowl edge and skill with which the treatment plan has been designed and executed. In the United States of America and in Europe, approximate ly half of all cancer is presently curable, but this has been the case for approximately 20 years."

This book is intended as an introduction to the drug treatment of cancer. It is almost ten years since the last edition was written. In the intervening time, there have been numerous developments in cancer chemotherapy and in order to cover these the majority of the text has been completely revised and rewritten. In addition, two new chapters have been introduced, one on the safe handling of cytotoxic drugs and the other on biological response modifiers. In order to incorporate this new information without any undue increase in the length of the text the chapters on a combined approach to treatment have been omitted. This is not because interdisciplinary collaboration is no longer considered important but is a reflection of the fact that, in most centres, it has become the norm in cancer management and its central role in successful treatment no longer needs to be stressed quite so strongly. The four chapters in the last edition which dealt with the team approach to cancer therapy have been replaced by a single chapter on the place of chemotherapy in the overall treatment of cancer. Unfortunately, despite all the innovations of the last decade, it has become increasingly clear that much of the promise offered by drug treatment during the 1960s and 1970s has not been fulfilled.