The "Advances in Cancer Research" series provides invaluable information on the exciting and fast-moving field of cancer research. This volume presents outstanding and original reviews on a variety of topics including RUNX Genes in Development and Cancer; The RNA Continent; The c-myc Promoter; Designer Self-Assembling Peptide Nanofiber Scaffolds for Study of 3-D Cell Biology and Beyond; and Dendritic Cells in Cancer Immunotherapy.

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.

Current cancer therapies are focused on three general strategies: modifying intrinsic radiosensitivity via molecular targeting, manipulating microenvironmental factors to enhance tumor susceptibility to radiation, and improving delivery of radiation to critical tumor locations while sparing normal tissues. The goal of this volume is to describe a number of promising approaches corresponding to each strategy. In general, research in radiation oncology tends to be siloed into fundamental biology, physics or treatment delivery. The strategies for improving therapeutic ratio encompassed in this book will involve each of these components of radiation oncology. Thus, they will illustrate the variety of disparate approaches available for potentially improving the efficacy of radiotherapy, which may then stimulate discussion across disciplines and foster further translational investigations. Although a goal of each chapter will be to highlight advances within an approach, of equal importance will be the delineation of barriers to successful clinical application and how to overcome or minimize such impediments. Along these lines, because therapeutic ratio incorporates both tumor and normal tissue radio response, a point of emphasis will be the mechanistic rationale for selectively modifying tumor (sensitization) or normal cells (protection). Finally, whereas the literature is replete with studies describing potential targets/strategies for increasing the therapeutic ratio for radiotherapy, this book will focus on those supported by in vivo data consistent with impending translational application along with those that are already being evaluated in the clinic.

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.

With cancer-related deaths projected to rise to 10.3 million people by 2020, the need to prevent, diagnose, and cure cancer is greater than ever. This book presents readers with the most up-to-date imaging instrumentation, general and diagnostic applications for various cancers, with an emphasis on lung and breast carcinomas--the two major worldwide malignancy types. This book discusses the various imaging techniques used to locate and diagnose tumors, including ultrasound, X-ray, color Doppler sonography, PET, CT, PET/CT, MRI, SPECT, diffusion tensor imaging, dynamic infrared imaging, and magnetic resonance spectroscopy. It also details strategies for imaging cancer, emphasizing the importance of the use of this technology for clinical diagnosis. Imaging techniques that predict the malignant potential of cancers, response to chemotherapy and other treatments, recurrence, and prognosis are also detailed.
Concentrates on the application of imaging technology to the diagnosis and prognosis of lung and breast carcinomas, the two major worldwide malignancies
Addresses the relationship between radiation dose and image quality
Discusses the role of molecular imaging in identifying changes for the emergence and progression of cancer at the cellular and/or molecular levels"

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.

The Advances in Cancer Research series provides invaluable information on the exciting and fast-moving field of cancer research. This volume presents outstanding and original reviews on a variety of topics including RUNX Genes in Development and Cancer; The RNA Continent; The c-myc Promoter; Designer Self-Assembling Peptide Nanofiber Scaffolds for Study of 3-D Cell Biology and Beyond; and Dendritic Cells in Cancer. Immunotherapy

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.

This volume explores the mechanisms of resistance to targeted therapeutics. The focus is on the cancer cell signaling network, although other mechanisms of resistance including target mutation, and new areas of study such as cancer stem cells are included. Targeted Therapies: Mechanisms of Resistance highlights examples of changes in the signaling network in response to inhibition of a signaling event and underscores the importance in having a mechanistic understanding of the signaling network in cancer for developing effective targeted cancer therapies. Moreover, cutting edge tools to analyze the cell signaling network will be discussed. This includes the leading edge of techniques as well as computational biology and systems theory. This volume provides the reader with both an overview as well as a detailed perspective on the mechanisms of resistance to targeted therapeutics and will be of great value to the oncologist, the physician-scientist treating patients and the translational scientist working on any aspect of targeted therapeutics.

In this book we have taken a comprehensive look at the subject of familial and hereditary gastric tumors. In particular, the aim of this novel editorial work is to propose the correct management of hereditary diffuse gastric cancer patients, focusing in particular on E-cadherin germline mutations, clinical criteria definition, genetic screening and molecular mechanisms, pathology and microscopic features, surgical treatment and clinical approach for asymptomatic mutation carriers. We also describe other inherited predispositions involving gastric carcinoma.

Pelvic Cancer Surgery: Modern Breakthroughs and Future Advances brings together the three main pelvic specialties (Urology, Gynecological Oncology and Colorectal Surgery) into one volume. Patients have been shown to benefit from a multidisciplinary approach since it allows surgeons of different specialties to learn from one another therefore enhancing the treatment for the patient. Pelvic cancer outcomes are poor in low volume centres. These centres account for 80% of the global centres dealing with these cancers. Pelvic Cancer Surgery: Modern Breakthroughs and Future Advances is a much needed book that can focus training and assist health professionals in their care of patients with pelvic dysfunction. Pelvic Cancer Surgery: Modern Breakthroughs and Future Advance is complete with full color illustrations and schematic diagrams and makes use of key points and stepwise figures for an enhanced learning experience.

This practical, compassionate, and inspiring book helps people with cancer navigate the often complex and difficult journey from diagnosis through treatment and life after disease. It illuminates the challenges associated with a cancer diagnosis and provides inspiration and guidance to help you not only to find the right doctors and care plan but also to cultivate hope and purpose. In Cancer with Hope, former CEO Mike Armstrong chronicles his experience with leukemia, prostate cancer, near-fatal sepsis, and a crippling autoimmune disease. Mike shares how his often difficult journey from humble beginnings to leading some of the world's top corporations taught him the importance of hope and purpose, tools that proved invaluable throughout his cancer journey. More than the tale of one man's experience with cancer, this important book includes expert advice and vetted resources to help patients best manage their disease, as well as compelling stories from a wide range of cancer patients who have faced seemingly insurmountable odds yet managed to maintain hope and find meaningful purpose.