Population studies and epidemiology facilitate the discovery of genetic and environmental determinants of cancer and the development of new approaches to cancer control and prevention, therefore they play a central role in the creation of health policies. Cancer Epidemiology compiles areas of research which cover etiological factors or determinants that contribute to the development of cancer and describe the the latest technologies in cancer epidemiology. In Volume 2, Modifiable Factors, leading experts provide chapters on modifiable factors in cancer epidemiology, epidemiology of organ specific cancer, and environmental and life style factors. Although a non-standard volume of the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series, this comprehensive text retains the commitment of the series to collecting the kind of detailed, up-to-date information and implementation advice that is crucial for getting optimal results. Cutting-edge and essential, Cancer Epidemiology allows readers to get the maximum advantage of the methods involved in this exciting and important field.

DNA and RNA fractions have been isolated from the whole blood, serum, plasma, the surface of blood cells, urine, saliva and spinal fluid from both healthy individuals and clinical patients. Recent developments are presented concerning the isolation, quantification and analysis of these molecules and their use in the identification of specific nucleic acid fragments related to a variety of clinical disorders thereby permitting their early diagnosis and prognosis.

The purpose of this book is to examine the etiology of cancer in large human populations using mathematical models developed from an inter-disciplinary perspective of the population epidemiological, biodemographic, genetic and physiological basis of the mechanisms of cancer initiation and progression. In addition an investigation of how the basic mechanism of tumor initiation relates to general processes of senescence and to other major chronic diseases (e.g., heart disease and stroke) will be conducted.

This volume explores data from the applications of molecular biological methods and the applications of recent immunological and cytogenetic methods in Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) that will offer readers possible new solutions to the unresolved problems in the EBV field. Chapters in this book cover topics such as: viral life cycle, latency, EBV-associated diseases and EBV diagnostics; in vitro methods including organotypic cultures for the analysis of EBV-epithelial cell interactions; identification of the interacting viral and cellular proteins using affinity purification-mass spectrometry methods; 3D telomere FISH; transcription analysis using high-throughput RNA sequencing, qPCR and nuclear run-on assay; analysis of viral and cellular microRNAs; isolation and characterization of exosomes and the assessment of their function; characterization of the viral genome by terminal repeat analysis and sequencing; the use of chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled sequencing (ChIP-Seq) for the analysis of Zta-DNA interactions; epigenetic analysis by bisulfite sequencing and ChIP; novel in vivo models for the study of EBV infection; and how immunological, virological, tissue culture and molecular methods can be combined to yield Good Manufacturing Practice-compliant EBV-specific T cells for the immunotherapy of EBV-associated post-transplant lymphoproliferative diseases (PTLD). Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Cutting-edge and comprehensive, Epstein Barr-Virus: Methods and Protocols is a valuable resource for anyone who is interested in this fascinating and evolving field.

This book provides readers with an overview of the frequent occurrence of asymmetric cell division. Employing a broad range of examples, it highlights how this mode of cell division constitutes the basis of multicellular organism development and how its misregulation can lead to cancer. To underline such developmental correlations, readers will for example gain insights into stem cell fate and tumor growth. In turn, subsequent chapters include descriptions of asymmetric cell division from unicellular organisms to humans in both physiological and pathological conditions. The book also illustrates the importance of this process for evolution and our need to understand the background mechanisms, offering a valuable guide not only for students in the field of developmental biology but also for experienced researchers from neighboring fields.

This comprehensive and easy-to-read monograph is an authoritative update on clinical prostate cancer. It has been prepared by an international, multidisciplinary team at the invitation of the International Prostate Health Council think tank. A particular strength of the book is its presentation of the therapeutic options for patients with localized and advanced disease, including hormonal treatment.

This volume collects a variety of techniques and methodologies developed to facilitate research on integrin biology and to identify ideal targets and approaches for the treatment of multiple organ diseases, with a focus on cancer in particular. The chapters consecutively describe the tools for structural analysis, identification and detection of integrins as biomarkers, and include thorough laboratory and clinically-related methods on different strategies for generation, synthesis and evaluation of probes, carriers, peptides or small particles for integrin targeting, imaging, and drug delivery. As part of the Methods in Pharmacology and Toxicology series, this book contains the practical details that are invaluable in the laboratory. Authoritative and advantageous, Integrin Targeting Systems for Tumor Diagnosis and Therapy serves readers from a wide spectrum, including researchers and students seeking an overview of existing developments, as well as leading professionals aiming to become more familiar with integrin-related innovative technologies in cancer research.

The book focuses on the understanding of molecular pathways by which normal cell progress to the definable stage of cancer. The chapters explore microbiota and chronic inflammation, multiple myeloma chemoprevention, microRNAs, cancer regulation, liquid biopsies, and angiogenesis. Recent advances of molecular risk assessment, tumor microenvironment, microneoplasia, malignant gene expressions are highlighted to provide a means and design of future cancer prevention strategies and challenges thereupon. The volume also explores various receptor drugs that are in development process with the emphasis of inhibitors used to prevent malignant gene expression. The book bridges the gap between basic science and clinical application of current knowledge of cancer and emphasizes that tumor progression and cancer metastasis are not random - treatments and cure are logical and eventual. Expertly authored and drawing from a wealth of international perspectives, Molecular Targets and Strategies in Cancer Prevention is invaluable reading for clinicians and researchers in the fields of oncology and molecular biology.

This book provides readers an extensive overview of recent progress in basic and clinical research on cancer immunotherapy. Thanks to rapid advances in molecular biology and immunology, it has become increasingly evident that cancer growth is influenced by host immune responses. With the success of a number of clinical trials, immunotherapy has become a promising treatment modality of cancer. This book covers five major topics, including monoclonal antibodies, biological response modifiers, cancer vaccines, adoptive cellular therapy and oncolytic viruses. It also examines the combination of different immune strategies as well as the combination of immunotherapy with other treatments to increase anti-tumor effects. Through the comprehensive discussion of the topic, the book sheds valuable new light on the treatment of tumors.

Managing infections that complicate care of neutropenic patients with leukemia and hematopoietic stem cell recipients has become a distinct specialty. In Managing Infections in Patients with Hematological Malignancies, the authors and editor draw on their extensive expertise while providing a roadmap for hematologists to efficiently manage the complex infections within their patients. The first section of the text reviews viral, bacterial, and fungal pathogens, and provides brief descriptions of the microbes and diseases they cause in patients with hematological malignancies. The second section is devoted to management of infections in patients with the different underlying hematological malignancies, while the third addresses several important topics that are often ignored in most books about infections and hematological malignancies. Managing Infections in Hematological Malignancies is a useful tool for all clinicians and practicing hematologists who treat individual patients and aspire to build stronger infectious diseases programs within their respective cancer centers.

Prostate Cancer: Biology, Genetics, and the New Therapeutics, Second Edition, reviews new, valuable approaches to the treatment of prostate cancer in men. The latest edition contains new material on molecular imaging, new treatments for prostate cancer, molecular targets, cell signaling pathways, bioinformatics, and pathogenomics. The book details the latest innovations and advances in prostate cancer and may be used as a rapid reference text for readers.

The volume profiles the latest advances in cancer research and treatment and includes profound studies in prostate stem cells, cancer-host interactions, hedgehog signaling in development and cancer, cholesterol and cell signaling, gene therapy for advanced prostate cancer, and noninvasive strategies such as molecular imaging to visualize gene expression. This new edition also investigates expression profiling and somatic alterations in prostate cancer progression and linkage studies of prostate cancer families to identify susceptibility genes. The issues of racial differences in prostate cancer mortality, radiotherapy for the treatment of locally advanced prostate cancer, recombinant antibody candidates for treatment, taxane-based chemotherapy, lethal phenotypes, and novel and efficient translation clinical trials are also presented in great depth.

Prostate Cancer: Biology, Genetics, and the New Therapeutics, Second Edition, provides readers with a general reference for prostate cancer from prevention to therapy and will be of value to clinicians, scientists, and administrators who strive to solve the cancer problem.

In this volume, the specific challenges and problems facing the evaluation of new oncology agents are explored with regards to pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic modeling and clinical pharmacology development strategies. This book delivers, with an emphasis on the oncology therapeutic area, the goals set in the first three volumes: namely - to provide clinical pharmacologists practical insights for the application of pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics for new drug development strategies. Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic concepts for tyrosine kinases, the evaluation of cardiac repolarization prolongation through QTc interval effects, efficacy- and safety-response analyses to support new drug approvals, clinical and preclinical tumor growth modeling, and flat- vs weight-based dose selection are showcased from an oncology clinical pharmacologist's point-of-view. Oncology development strategies are surveyed for new FDA-approvals to identify patterns in expectations at time of first approval. The special considerations necessary to address combination drug development, metronomics, biosimilars and breakthrough therapies are also presented.

This interdisciplinary thesis introduces a systems biology approach to study the cell fate decision mediated by autophagy. A mathematical model of interaction between Autophagy and Apoptosis in mammalian cells is proposed. In this dynamic model autophagy acts as a gradual response to stress (Rheostat) that delays the initiation of bistable switch of apoptosis to give the cells an opportunity to survive. The author shows that his dynamical model is consistent with existing quantitative measurements of time courses of autophagic responses to cisplatin treatment. To understand the function of this response in cancer cells, he has provided a systems biology experimental framework to study quantitative and dynamical aspects of autophagy in single cancer cells using live-cell imaging and quantitative fluorescence microscopy. This framework can provide new insights on function of autophagic response in cancer cells.

This volume will introduce new terminology to the field of oncology, subdividing it into oncokinetics-the mechanics of the tumor cells as they arise and spread throughout the body-and oncodynamics-the impact of abnormal cues generated by tumors on the physiological functioning of the body. The volume will outline the importance of oncodynamics from both a cancer patient's and a caregiver's perspectives, stressing its significant impact on cancer patient functionality and the opportunity that cancer researchers will have to develop cross-disciplinary interactions and predict potential consequences of tumors and/or treatment.

High-fidelity chromosomal DNA replication underpins all life on the planet. In humans, there are clear links between chromosome replication defects and genome instability, genetic disease and cancer, making a detailed understanding of the molecular mechanisms of genome duplication vital for future advances in diagnosis and treatment. Building on recent exciting advances in protein structure determination, the book will take the reader on a guided journey through the intricate molecular machinery of eukaryotic chromosome replication and provide an invaluable source of information, ideas and inspiration for all those with an interest in chromosome replication, whether from a basic science, translational biology and medical research perspective.

A panel of leading investigators summarizes and synthesizes the new discoveries in the rapidly evolving field of histone acetylation as a key regulatory mechanism for gene expression. The authors describe what has been learned about these proteins, including the identification of the enzymes, the elucidation of the enzymatic mechanisms of action, and the identification of their substrates and their partners. They also review the structures that have been solved for a number of enzymes-both alone and in complex with small molecule inhibitors-and the biological roles of the several histone deacetylases (HDAC) genes that have been knocked out in mice.

This thesis focuses on the development of gold- and non-classical platinum-based anti-cancer agents that display distinctively different anti-cancer mechanisms compared to the commonly used cisplatin. These metal complexes contain N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands which are able to form strong M-C(NHC) bonds, conferring high stability and favorable lipophilicity, reactivity and binding specificity of metal complexes on biomolecules. The author demonstrates significant advances made in anti-cancer gold(III), gold(I) and platinum(II) complexes. Detailed chemical synthesis, in vitro and/or in vivo anti-cancer activities are clearly presented including: (i) a class of Au(III) complexes containing a highly fluorescent N^N^N ligand and NHC ligand that simultaneously act as fluorescent thiol "switch-on" probes and anti-cancer agents; (ii) a dinuclear gold(I) complex with a mixed diphosphine and bis(NHC) ligand displaying favorable stability and showing significant inhibition of tumor growth in two independent mice models with no observable side effects; and (iii) a panel of stable luminescent cyclometalated platinum(II) complexes exhibiting high specificity to localize to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) domain, inducing ER stress and cell apoptosis. These works highlight the clinical potential that gold and platinum complexes offer for cancer treatment.

This volume contains the main proceedings of the fourth international conference on "Cancer Prevention 2006," which was held during February 16 18, 2006, in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Written by international experts in the field, the book comprises a comprehensive update on the most recent developments in the upsurging fields of molecular biology and cancer genetics and their interactions with clinical epidemiology and cancer prevention at various levels.

In Apoptosis and Cancer: Methods and Protocols, Second Edition, expert researches in the field detail the performance of molecular and cellular biology techniques for studying and detecting the activation of the apoptotic pathway. Chapters focus on assays developed to detect its activation not only in vitro but also in vivo, optimized multiplex analysis, medium- to high-throughput screens, and the cellular process. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and key tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, Apoptosis and Cancer: Methods and Protocols, Second Edition aids scientists as a stand-alone resource for the execution and analysis of the described protocols and as a reference for the study and detection of apoptosis within and outside the area of cancer research.