This book is intended to serve as an authoritative reference source for a broad audience involved in the research, teaching, learning, and practice of nanotechnology in immunotherapy. The combination of nanotechnology and immunotherapy is recognized as a promising treatment modality. In particular, the use of nanoparticles in immunotherapy has attracted increased attention for their unique efficacy and specificity in cancer treatment. A wide variety of nanoparticles, such as polymeric and liposomal nanosystems, carbon nanotubes, and gold nanoparticles have provided important nanoplatforms for immunotherapeutic approaches. They have been shown to improve delivery and efficacy of immunotherapeutic agents such as vaccines or adjuvants. Nanoparticle-mediated thermal therapy has demonstrated the effectiveness for precise tumor cell ablation, radio-sensitization of hypoxic regions, enhancement of drug delivery, activation of thermosensitive agents, and enhancement of the immune system. Plasmonic nanoparticles are a special type of metallic nanoparticles that has received great interest due to their enhanced optical and electromagnetic properties and their superior capacity to convert photon energy into heat for selective photothermal therapy at the nanoscale level. Nanoparticle sizes can also be controlled such that they accumulate preferentially in tumors due to the enhanced permeability and retention effect of tumor vasculature. Various nanosystems such as gold nanoparticles have also been shown to stimulate the immune system. Immunotherapies could thus synergistically benefit from the combination with targeted nanoparticle-mediated photothermal therapies, especially when hyperthermia around immune-checkpoint inhibitors in the tumor bed is combined with precise thermal ablation of cancer cells. Of great importance is the possibility that such an approach can induce long-term immunological memory that can provide protection against tumor recurrence long after treatment of the initial tumors, like an 'anticancer vaccine'. Nanoparticle-mediated immunotherapy could lead to an entirely new treatment paradigm that challenges traditional surgical resection approaches for many cancers and metastases.

The book conveys a comprehensive knowledge of long and short ncRNAs in cancer regulation and their potentials as diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Topics covered include the molecular mechanisms of various classes of ncRNAs (with emphasis on long non-coding RNAs and microRNAs) in cancer, the functional roles of ncRNAs in regulating different cancer hallmarks (including proliferation, apoptosis, stem-cell properties, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, metabolism, angiogenesis, tumor-host interactions and therapeutic resistance), the role of ncRNAs in regulating cancer signaling circuitry programs (highlighting their involvement in c-myc, p53 and NFkB signaling), a systemic summary of clinical and preclinical studies that evaluate the potential of ncRNA signatures for cancer diagnosis and prognosis and strategies to delivery short ncRNAs as therapeutic molecules for cancer treatment. This book may serve as a comprehensive resource for researchers, graduate students and oncologists in ncRNA and cancer research and help drug development by identifying ncRNA targets.

This book presents a comprehensive discussion on the heterogeneity existing between different types of stem cells within the same tissue, for several types of cancers, e.g. glioblastoma stem cells. Recent developments have revealed completely different roles of distinct stem cells within the same organ. Thus, Stem Cells Heterogeneity in Cancer provides a timely update us on the current information on stem cells heterogeneity in various tissues. It also provides a solid foundation of the history of stem cells from specific tissues and the current applications of this knowledge in regenerative medicine. When taken as a whole, alongside its companion volumes Stem Cells Heterogeneity - Novel Concepts, and Stem Cells Heterogeneity in Different Organs, these three books present a comprehensive reference on stem cell heterogeneity in various tissues and current and future applications for regenerative medicine. It is essential reading for advanced cell biology students as well as researchers in stem cells and clinicians.

Gynecologic malignancies, especially endometrial and ovarian cancers are among the most important and most severely affected by obesity. This volume of Energy Balance and Cancer, written by the world's leading experts in this field, is arranged to provide a transdisciplinary assessment of the pertinent issues, results of relevant research on mechanisms, and control, strategies for dealing with affected patients and improving outcomes and future research needs. The volume comprehensively covers the epidemiology linking obesity to endometrial and ovarian cancer as well as the public awareness of this critical problem. Subsequent chapters explain biologic aspects of linkages between energy balance and gynecologic malignancies. The volume further outlines strategies to disrupt the linkage between obesity and gynecologic malignancies and concludes with a series of chapters focused on management strategies for obese patients with gynecologic malignancies. This volume provides a valuable resource for all physicians, scientists and other transdisciplinary investigators and practitioners interested and involved in energy balance and cancer. It should be a particularly useful guide to optimize outcomes for all practitioners dealing with patients with gynecologic malignancies challenged by energy balance issues. Moreover, it should serve as a useful guide to students and investigators interested in conducting further research on defining and disrupting the important linkage between energy balance and gynecologic malignancies.

1 Dietary Fat and Breast Cancer: Controversy and Biological Plausibility.- 2 Dietary Fat Intake Reduction for Patients with Resected Breast Cancer.- 3 Dietary Fat Reduction as a Hypothesis for the Prevention of Postmenopausal Breast Cancer, and a Discussion of Hypothesis Testing Research Strategies.- 4 Hormone Studies and the Diet and Breast Cancer Connection.- 5 Dietary Fat Effects on Animal Models of Breast Cancer.- 6 Effect of Conjugated Linoleic Acid on Carcinogenesis.- 7 A Possible Mechanism by Which Dietary Fat Can Alter Tumorigenesis: Lipid Modulation of Macrophage function.- 8 Dietary Fatty Acids and Human Breast Cancer Cell Growth, Invasion, and Metastasis.- 9 Meta-Analysis of Animal Experiments: Elucidating Relationships Between Dietary Fat and Mammary Tumor Development in Rodents.- 10 Vitamin A, Retinoids and Breast Cancer.- 11 Vitamin D Adequacy: A Possible Relationship to Breast Cancer.- 12 Vitamin D and Breast Cancer.- 13 Some Aspects of Vitamin E Related to Humans and Breast Cancer Prevention.- Poster Abstract.- Contributors.

This volume will describe recent progress and future directions in radiation oncology and biology research, focusing on strategies designed to improve disease control and reduce the risk of long-term adverse effects on patients. As more and more patients are becoming long-term survivors, this strategy will become increasingly important--in radiation oncology and throughout the field of oncology.

This book gives insight into the functional role of non-coding RNAs in central pathways contributing to the development of obesity, type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, cardiomyopathy, and heart failure. It also sheds light on the relationship of this cluster with cancer. Tumor cells, in contrast to cells in cardiometabolic tissues, can regulate this cluster of non-coding RNAs to escape from oxidative stress and anti-tumor immunity and maintain insulin sensitivity, facilitating cancer progression. The book presents a cluster of non-coding RNAs that may be prospectively analyzed in extensive cohort studies to determine their value in risk-predicting machine learning algorithms. In addition, it emphasizes the role of microvesicles in communication between tumor-adjacent tissue, inflammatory cells, and tumor cells, with a special focus on the role of miR-155. The book intends to promote interdisciplinary research. Due to the comprehensive background information provided in each chapter, it is suitable for researchers in academia and industry and for graduate students in biology, bioengineering, and medicine.

Childhood acute leukemias are one of the main causes of death in children aged 1 to 14 years in some countries; and unfortunately, we have been unable to prevent it. Certainly, a good parcel of it is due to the poor understanding about its etiology. This book aims to describe the most important theories and hypothesis regarding childhood acute leukemia. Written by the most outstanding researchers in the field, this book intends to contribute to a greater understanding of the etiology of this disease. It goes beyond the simple and common analysis of risk factors, which hardly allows us to draw definite conclusions. By addressing the etiology of the disease, discussing from molecular biology until epidemiology and clinical manifestations, this book will guide present and future approaches, contributing for a better clinical management of leukemia in children. The knowledge regarding etiology is a crucial step for a better evaluation, prevention and treatment of a disease. Thus, this book finally intends to provide such knowledge, allowing physicians and practitioners to a better manage of childhood acute leukemias.

Breast cancer research has never been in such an exciting and hopeful phase as today. From a clinical perspective, the discovery of genetic markers of risk in a proportion of familial breast cancer cases has opened up new vistas for understanding and ultimately preventing this disease. On the other hand, aggressive - even daring - therapies are being proven to be effective against advanced breast cancer. For the breast cancer experimentalist, this is also a time of great advance. Although animal and cell culture breast cancer models have proven to be of great use, there are now increasing opportunities to test the concepts developed in these models in actual clinical samples and cases. It is gratifying to see how well these concepts "translate" into the clinical setting. A very active area of research that is linking the laboratory to the clinic is the dissection of the biology and elucidation of the significance of proliferate breast disease and the identification of true, "high risk" or "preneoplastic" legions within the previously ill-defined spectrum of fibrocystic or benign breast disease. One anticipates that discoveries made here will also lead to earlier detection, intervention and prevention of life-threatening cancer.
Even, however, as we look with optimism to the eventual eradication of breast cancer, we are once again forced to face the reality that we have not yet achieved our goal. Thus, we are saddened by the much too premature death of Dr. Helene Smith from breast cancer. Helena's work was at the forefront of efforts to understand the biology of human breast cancer at the molecular level. Her insight, open-mindedness, and refusal to sacrifice relevance for convenience will continue to set the standard for all breast cancer researchers. This volume is dedicated to her memory.

This book approaches the differential diagnosis and management of rare, hereditary cancer syndromes from a practical angle, addressing the issues pertinent to each tumour type as encountered by health professionals in their day-to-day practice. This book enables readers to correctly identify patients with rare cancer syndromes who would benefit from genetic counselling and testing, and provides the necessary knowledge for appropriate patient management and advising at-risk family members. It begins by describing recent advances in genetic testing for cancer-predisposing genes. Leading experts from Europe and Australia then offer detailed, up-to-date guidance on the diagnosis and management of a wide range of hereditary cancers. The concluding chapter examines the wider issues that are raised by genetic testing for rare cancer syndromes for patients, families and health professionals. This book is an invaluable source of information for all specialists involved in the care of such patients and their families.

This book discusses the efficacy of various naturally occurring chemopreventive agents in preventing or delaying cancer. It focuses on the holistic chemopreventive concept, demonstrating the relevant response is the combined effect of a series of compounds that alone have been shown to have some effect in different experimental models. Written by leading experts in the field, the contributions provide details of research on various chemopreventive agents. Offering insights into the unique molecular targets and mechanisms, safety issues, molecular efficacy, and occurrence in nature of these compounds, the book is a valuable resource for all scientists working in biomedicine, and specifically in cancer research.

Multiple Myeloma remains an incurable malignancy. As the disease progresses, it invariably becomes resistant to treatment and almost all patients develop refractory disease. There are multiple different types of targeted therapies and many of them are used in combination at different stages of disease. Targeted therapies that are approved to be used include Proteasome Inhibitors, Immunomodulatory Drugs and Monoclonal Antibodies. Second and third generations of these drugs are developed to overcome resistance and they have unique mechanism of actions. Targeted therapies that are undergoing clinical trials include CAR-T cells, bi-specific antibodies, vaccines, ubiquitin ligase inhibitors and BCL-2 inhibitors. This book will help to develop an understanding of targeted therapies in Multiple Myeloma. Its goal is to provide a unique review of the mechanism of action and resistance of the many targeted therapies in Multiple Myeloma by leaders of the field. The book will be useful for students in medical science, clinicians, health professionals, scientists, pharmaceutical professionals, drug developers, and policy makers. This book will provide an insightful knowledge of the biology of Multiple Myeloma, the mechanism of action and resistance of targeted therapies, application of biomarkers and genomics and possible strategies in overcoming resistance and future development.

The volume will serve as a primer on tyrosine kinase signaling and its importance in cancer. The volume will first introduce the common denominators of small-molecule and antibody-derived inhibitors, as well as the general phenomenon of resistance. The volume will then detail resistance to the most commonly used classes of tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and will focus specific chapters on resistance to BCR-ABL1, FLT3, angiokinase family members, and ALK inhibitors.

This book reviews recent knowledge of the role of gut microbiome in health and disease. It covers extensive topics for several diseases, including metabolic-related diseases, allergies, gastrointestinal diseases, psychiatric diseases, and cancer, while also discussing therapeutic approaches by microbiota modification. Comprehensive and cutting-edge, Gut Microbiome-Related Diseases and Therapies deepens a reader's theoretical expertise in gut microbiome. Graduate and postdoctoral students, medical doctors, and biomedical researchers will benefit from this book.

This book presents the theoretical foundations of Systems Biology, as well as its application in studies on human hosts, pathogens and associated diseases. This book presents several chapters written by renowned experts in the field. Some topics discussed in depth in this book include: computational modeling of multiresistant bacteria, systems biology of cancer, systems immunology, networks in systems biology.

After nearly three decades of providing medical care for women and men facing breast cancer, surgeon S. David Nathanson calls the survival rates today an ordinary miracle. Ordinary because the vast majority of patients now do live at least 20 years after diagnosis due to enormous progress that has been made in medicine; and a miracle too because of the intangible qualities such as faith and hope that seem key to success in battling the disease. In this book, survivors describe their experiences, emotions, and means to overcome the disease. S. David Nathanson is an esteemed, longtime surgeon who calls the survival rates today for women and men facing breast cancer nothing short of an ordinary miracle. Ordinary because the vast majority of patients live at least two decades after diagnosis, due to great advances that have been made in early detection, surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. But also a miracle because we know that key elements for a woman or man succeeding in a personal battle against breast cancer include completely intangible qualities of courage, fortitude, trust, persistence, faith, and hope. Although science cannot completely explain it, a supportive network of family and friends with those qualities also empower patient survival and recovery. In these pages, Nathanson shares stories from his patients, teaching us about the experience of breast cancer and explaining how they found and fueled the will and power to defeat the disease. Even surgeon Nathanson himself cannot fully describe what goes through the hearts and minds of breast cancer patients as they discover, deal with, and finally triumph over the diagnosis. So in this book he acts as a narrator, letting his ordinary yet miraculous cancer survivors tell their stories, certainly filled with fear of the known and unknown, and with pain, but opening up to courage, love, sometimes humor, and finally hope. It is hope that firms up their resilience; hope that initiates their fortitude. Hope is an important component of healing, says the surgeon. Seventy-one survivors, including one man, tell their stories to ilustrate every step of the experience.

This volume presents state-of-the-art information on each of the arms of the unfolded protein response (UPR), how their activation/repression are regulated, integrated, and coordinated, how UPR components affect cancer cell biology and responsiveness to therapeutic interventions, and how UPR components/activities offer potentially novel targets for drug discovery, repurposing, and development. The volume will provide the most recent information on the signaling and regulation of the UPR, explore examples of how the UPR and/or specific components contribute to cancer biology, and identify and explore specific examples of potently new actionable targets for drug discovery and development from within the UPR and its regulation. Unique to the volume will be a specific focus on the UPR and its role in cancer biology, as well as a discussion of the role of the UPR in drug responses and resistance in cancer.

Michael Sand gives the reader an overview of current techniques in expression profiling of miRNAs and their maturation machinery in the skin. This book is a postdoctoral thesis on miRNAs in cutaneous malignant melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer with a focus on the miRNA processing machinery and miRNA expression profiling. The research presented in this book was performed in the Dermatologic Surgery Section at the Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology of the Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany and gives the reader an overview of current techniques in expression profiling of miRNAs and their maturation machinery in the skin.

This book focuses on the analysis of cancer dynamics and the mathematically based synthesis of anticancer therapy. It summarizes the current state-of-the-art in this field and clarifies common misconceptions about mathematical modeling in cancer. Additionally, it encourages closer cooperation between engineers, physicians and mathematicians by showing the clear benefits of this without stating unrealistic goals. Development of therapy protocols is realized from an engineering point of view, such as the search for a solution to a specific control-optimization problem. Since in the case of cancer patients, consecutive measurements providing information about the current state of the disease are not available, the control laws are derived for an open loop structure. Different forms of therapy are incorporated into the models, from chemotherapy and antiangiogenic therapy to immunotherapy and gene therapy, but the class of models introduced is broad enough to incorporate other forms of therapy as well. The book begins with an analysis of cell cycle control, moving on to control effects on cell population and structured models and finally the signaling pathways involved in carcinogenesis and their influence on therapy outcome. It also discusses the incorporation of intracellular processes using signaling pathway models, since the successful treatment of cancer based on analysis of intracellular processes, might soon be a reality. It brings together various aspects of modeling anticancer therapies, which until now have been distributed over a wide range of literature. Written for researchers and graduate students interested in the use of mathematical and engineering tools in biomedicine with special emphasis on applications in cancer diagnosis and treatment, this self-contained book can be easily understood with only a minimal basic knowledge of control and system engineering methods as well as the biology of cancer. Its interdisciplinary character and the authors' extensive experience in cooperating with clinicians and biologists make it interesting reading for researchers from control and system engineering looking for applications of their knowledge. Systems and molecular biologists as well as clinicians will also find new inspiration for their research.

This book evaluates new data on diet and cancer and uses it to update the dietary guidelines produced by ECP and IUNS in 1985. It is the proceedings of the 9th Annual Symposium of the European Organization for Cooperation in Cancer Prevention Studies held in Madrid during October, 1991. The first section updates general background material (dietary carcinogens, animal studies etc.), the second concerns diet and cancer at specific sites and also specific nutrients in human cancer. The third section addresses problems with guidelines per se, and the fourth the Mediterranean diet in relation to cancer. These chapters, together with the general conclusions reached in a parallel workshop, represent a state-of-the-art review of the current status of diet and cancer and also provide the background to the conclusions that guidelines as formulated in 1985 can no longer be sustained and that they need to be replaced by guidelines that (a) concern food groups instead of nutrients and (b) are targetted at particular groups rather than the population in general.

This volume provides detailed descriptions of prevailing and novel techniques used by experts in the study of PTEN function in disease and biology. The book begins with chapters exploring methods to detect expression levels of PTEN in normal and diseased human specimens; methods to evaluate specific PTEN function in brain cancer; methods that utilize a new biosensor to measure PTEN regulation; and techniques to measure post-transcriptional regulation of PTEN by micoRNAs and ceRNAs. Other chapters present methods describing novel techniques to detect PTEN localization and previously unstudied structural features of PTEN measured through X-Ray Crystallography and Hydrogen Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry. The book concludes with methods to study PTEN function in model organisms including mice and C. elegans. 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. Authoritative and thorough, PTEN: Methods and Protocols is a valuable collection of methodologies and protocols useful to researchers who are interested in the PTEN field.