In recent years the pace of research in prostate cancer has increased dramatically. Creative ideas in combination with new and emerging technologies have led to an explosion of discovery. These types of advances in prostate cancer research presage an era of new treatment strategies based on an understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of disease.
In creating this book, we aimed to cover a broad "bench to bedside" research spectrum ranging from: genetic, molecular and cellular analyses to epidemiological studies, refinements in local treatment strategies and new biologically based non-hormonal treatments for systemic disease.
Researchers and clinicians will find in this book a group of timely and clinically relevant chapters on prostate cancer research and treatment.

This volume represents a collection of contributions from the 6th International Conference on Eicosanoids and Other Bioactive Lipids in Cancer, Inflammation, and Related Diseases held in Boston from September 12-15, 1999. The mission of this meeting was to bring together senior and junior investigators to both announce and examine their recent advancements in cutting-edge research on the roles and actions of lipid mediators and their impact in human physiology and disease pathogenesis. The meeting focused on new concepts in these areas of interest to both clinicians and researchers. The program included several outstanding plenary lectures and presentations by leading experts in the fields of cancer and inflammation. In addition, the Boston meeting presented three Young Investigator awards, one in each of the major focus areas. The meeting was exciting and proved to be very memorable. The program was developed with an emphasis on recent advances in molecular and of lipid mediators relevant in cellular mechanisims involved in the formation and actions inflammation and cancer. Plenary lectures were presented by Prof. Bengt Sammuelsson (Karolinska Institute, Stockholm; 1982 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine) and Prof. E. 1. Corey (Harvard University; 1990 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry). Both of these plenary lectures were held on Day 1, which set an exciting tone for this meeting. Immediately following these plenary lectures, three simultaneous breakout sessions were held, one of inflammation, a second on cancer and synthesis of novel inhibitors, and a third on enzymes-lipoxygenases/cyclooxygenases and inhibitors.

This volume constitutes, in part, the proceedings of the Hong Kong Conference on "Eicosanoids and Other Bioactive Lipids in Cancer, Inflammation, and Radiation Injury" held in Hong Kong in October 1995. It contains papers by the symposium speakers, as well as poster contributions from researchers in this field. Since the discovery of "PROSTAGLANDIN-LIKE' substances 60 years ago. much has been learned. EICOSANOID is the new term that is used to include prostaglandins. thromboxanes, leukotrienes, lipoxins, isoprostanes, depoxilins, hydroxy acids, epoxy and hydroperoxy fatty acids. The conference focussed on recent development in underatanding the role of EICOSANOIDS in inflammation, cancer, and radiation damage. At the confer- ence, we also highlighted advances in newly developing areas such as "NO," "A POP- TOSIS and "ANANDAMIDE." The discovery of the structures of genes that encode several key enzymes and receptors of the Eicosanoid cascade, has allowed us to include reports in the "Alteration of the Gene Expression" section that reflects the most recent de- velopments in regulation for PGH-synthase and lipoxygenases. The editors are convinced that this volume will be an up-to-date and useful reference for investigators in both basic and clinical research.

This volume contains the proceedings of the First International Conference on Eicosanoids and Other Bioactive Lipids in Cancer and Radiation Injury held in Detroit, Michigan on October 11-14, 1989. The program consisted of 83 oral and 29 poster presentations, 74 of which are included in these proceedings. The major sponsors of the conference were the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, located in Bethesda, Maryland, the Radiation Oncology Research and Development Center of the Gershenson Radiation Oncology Center, Harper Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, and Schering AG of West Germany. Eighteen other organizations provided additional support. The conference was unique in its attempt to link the eicosanoid and lipid researchers in the radiobiology and cancer disciplines. The diverse roles that eicosanoids and other bioactive lipids play in these biological phenomena including the participation of lipid oxidation in conversion of procarcinogens, positive and negative modulation of tumor growth, immunomodulation, tissue injury, and yet protection and enhancement of cancer therapy, necessitated scientific interaction to sort out and understand these complex and sometimes contradictory observations. The success of this effort is reflected not only through these proceedings, but also through the decision to continue the conference series with a second meeting to be held in Berlin between September 17-21, 1991.

Over one hundred contributions detail advances in the molecular and cellular biology of eicosanoid production, as well as their role in signal transduction. One of the most exciting developments explored within this collection of articles is the expression of the novel isoform of cyclooxygenase (cox-2), which may play a large role in the development of anti-inflammatory drugs.

The past twenty years have witnessed significant advances in the treatment of cancer by surgery and radiation therapy. Gains with cytotoxic chemotherapy have been much more modest. Of the approximately 900,000 newly diagnosed cases of cancer each year, 50010 result in death of the patient. The primary cause of these deaths is metastasis. Although the term metastasis was first coined by Recamier in 1829, only in the past ten years have there been intensive scientific investigations into the mechanisms by which tumor cells metastasize. What has emerged is a complex process of host-tumor cell interactions which has been termed the metastatic cascade. Due to the complexity of the metastatic process, the study of metastasis is multifaceted and involves elements of such areas as differentiation, en zymology, genetics, hematology, immunology, membrane biochemistry and molecular biology. The major objectives of this book were to present the most recent advances in our understanding of how tumor cells metastasize to secondary sites by the leading experts in the biology of tumor invasion and metastasis. We hope that this book will lead to new concepts for the treatment of subclinical metastatic cancer. The chapters in this book address both the basic science of metastasis and potential clinical therapies directed toward interruption of the metastatic cascade or toward eradication of subclinical metastases. Many relevant topics have been omitted due to space considerations and thus the topics included reflect the prej udices of the editors."

This volume represents a collection of contributions from the 6th International Conference on Eicosanoids and Other Bioactive Lipids in Cancer, Inflammation, and Related Diseases held in Boston from September 12-15, 1999. The mission of this meeting was to bring together senior and junior investigators to both announce and examine their recent advancements in cutting-edge research on the roles and actions of lipid mediators and their impact in human physiology and disease pathogenesis. The meeting focused on new concepts in these areas of interest to both clinicians and researchers. The program included several outstanding plenary lectures and presentations by leading experts in the fields of cancer and inflammation. In addition, the Boston meeting presented three Young Investigator awards, one in each of the major focus areas. The meeting was exciting and proved to be very memorable. The program was developed with an emphasis on recent advances in molecular and of lipid mediators relevant in cellular mechanisims involved in the formation and actions inflammation and cancer. Plenary lectures were presented by Prof. Bengt Sammuelsson (Karolinska Institute, Stockholm; 1982 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine) and Prof. E. 1. Corey (Harvard University; 1990 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry). Both of these plenary lectures were held on Day 1, which set an exciting tone for this meeting. Immediately following these plenary lectures, three simultaneous breakout sessions were held, one of inflammation, a second on cancer and synthesis of novel inhibitors, and a third on enzymes-lipoxygenases/cyclooxygenases and inhibitors.

The Organizing Committee of the 15th International Conference on Bioactive Lipids in Cancer, Inflammation and Related Diseases compiled a group of junior investigators to provide reviews on the topics they presented at the Puerto Vallarta Bioactive Lipids conference, as part of the book series, Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology (AEMB). The book in this series will be titled Bioactive Lipids in Cancer, Inflammation and Related Diseases. Topics range from all classes of lipids including prostaglandins, resolvins, spingolipids, P450-derived lipids, endocannabanoids and phospholipids. The focus includes physiology, cell biology, and structural studies in organisms from bacteria to humans and how these studies addressed the role of lipids in various disease i.e. cancer, inflammation, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and others.

Over one hundred contributions detail advances in the molecular and cellular biology of eicosanoid production, as well as their role in signal transduction. One of the most exciting developments explored within this collection of articles is the expression of the novel isoform of cyclooxygenase (cox-2), which may play a large role in the development of anti-inflammatory drugs.

This volume constitutes, in part, the proceedings of the Hong Kong Conference on "Eicosanoids and Other Bioactive Lipids in Cancer, Inflammation, and Radiation Injury" held in Hong Kong in October 1995. It contains papers by the symposium speakers, as well as poster contributions from researchers in this field. Since the discovery of "PROSTAGLANDIN-LIKE' substances 60 years ago. much has been learned. EICOSANOID is the new term that is used to include prostaglandins. thromboxanes, leukotrienes, lipoxins, isoprostanes, depoxilins, hydroxy acids, epoxy and hydroperoxy fatty acids. The conference focussed on recent development in underatanding the role of EICOSANOIDS in inflammation, cancer, and radiation damage. At the confer- ence, we also highlighted advances in newly developing areas such as "NO," "A POP- TOSIS and "ANANDAMIDE." The discovery of the structures of genes that encode several key enzymes and receptors of the Eicosanoid cascade, has allowed us to include reports in the "Alteration of the Gene Expression" section that reflects the most recent de- velopments in regulation for PGH-synthase and lipoxygenases. The editors are convinced that this volume will be an up-to-date and useful reference for investigators in both basic and clinical research.

In recent decades eicosanoids have been attracting an increasing amount of attention as a result of their important physiological roles in many areas of biology and medicine. The eicosanoids comprise the prostaglandins, thromboxanes and leukotrienes and are products of arachidonic acid, an essential polyunsaturated fatty acid stored in tissue phospholipids. Disturbances of eicosanoids and their metabolic products play a regulatory role in many types of cell injuries and diseases. One of the most exciting areas of eicosanoid research pinpoints their participation in the control of cell proliferation and differentiation. Eicosanoids form a link between different fields of research into such areas as cancer, inflammation and radiation-induced injury. This link provided the impetus for the development of the conference series of which the present volume represents the proceedings of the Second International Conference, held in Berlin in October 1991.

This volume contains the proceedings of the First International Conference on Eicosanoids and Other Bioactive Lipids in Cancer and Radiation Injury held in Detroit, Michigan on October 11-14, 1989. The program consisted of 83 oral and 29 poster presentations, 74 of which are included in these proceedings. The major sponsors of the conference were the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, located in Bethesda, Maryland, the Radiation Oncology Research and Development Center of the Gershenson Radiation Oncology Center, Harper Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, and Schering AG of West Germany. Eighteen other organizations provided additional support. The conference was unique in its attempt to link the eicosanoid and lipid researchers in the radiobiology and cancer disciplines. The diverse roles that eicosanoids and other bioactive lipids play in these biological phenomena including the participation of lipid oxidation in conversion of procarcinogens, positive and negative modulation of tumor growth, immunomodulation, tissue injury, and yet protection and enhancement of cancer therapy, necessitated scientific interaction to sort out and understand these complex and sometimes contradictory observations. The success of this effort is reflected not only through these proceedings, but also through the decision to continue the conference series with a second meeting to be held in Berlin between September 17-21, 1991.

The past twenty years have witnessed significant advances in the treatment of cancer by surgery and radiation therapy. Gains with cytotoxic chemotherapy have been much more modest. Of the approximately 900,000 newly diagnosed cases of cancer each year, 50010 result in death of the patient. The primary cause of these deaths is metastasis. Although the term metastasis was first coined by Recamier in 1829, only in the past ten years have there been intensive scientific investigations into the mechanisms by which tumor cells metastasize. What has emerged is a complex process of host-tumor cell interactions which has been termed the metastatic cascade. Due to the complexity of the metastatic process, the study of metastasis is multifaceted and involves elements of such areas as differentiation, en zymology, genetics, hematology, immunology, membrane biochemistry and molecular biology. The major objectives of this book were to present the most recent advances in our understanding of how tumor cells metastasize to secondary sites by the leading experts in the biology of tumor invasion and metastasis. We hope that this book will lead to new concepts for the treatment of subclinical metastatic cancer. The chapters in this book address both the basic science of metastasis and potential clinical therapies directed toward interruption of the metastatic cascade or toward eradication of subclinical metastases. Many relevant topics have been omitted due to space considerations and thus the topics included reflect the prej udices of the editors."

This book provides an updated overview of eicosanoid metabolism. It also presents a timely discussion of eicosanoid metabolism in the process of tumor cell metastasis, in chemoprotection and radioprotection associated with cancer therapy, and in cell differentiation. The book focuses on the role of eicosanoids in the immunology of malignant disease. This includes how various immune cell populations in cancer are affected by the secretion and action of various eicosanoids and metabolites of eicosanoids and how these processes may be affected by various pharmacological manipulations and interventions to augment anti-tumor immunity. Head and neck cancer is covered in great detail to illustrate a cancer in humans where these considerations are particularly relevant. This important volume demonstrates that the principal factor in cancer patient immunologic deficiency is related to excess secretion by monocytes of prostaglandins.

In recent years the pace of research in prostate cancer has increased dramatically. Creative ideas in combination with new and emerging technologies have led to an explosion of discovery. These types of advances in prostate cancer research presage an era of new treatment strategies based on an understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of disease.
In creating this book, we aimed to cover a broad "bench to bedside" research spectrum ranging from: genetic, molecular and cellular analyses to epidemiological studies, refinements in local treatment strategies and new biologically based non-hormonal treatments for systemic disease.
Researchers and clinicians will find in this book a group of timely and clinically relevant chapters on prostate cancer research and treatment.