This two-volume treatise, the collected effort of more than 50 authors, represents the first comprehensive survey of the chemistry and biology of the set of molecules known as peptide growth factors. Although there have been many symposia on this topic, and numerous publications of reviews dealing with selected subsets of growth factors, the entire field has never been covered in a single treatise. It is essential to do this at the present time, as the number of journal articles on peptide growth factors now makes it almost impossible for anyone person to stay informed on this subject by reading the primary literature. At the same time it is becoming increasingly apparent that these substances are of universal importance in biology and medicine and that the original classification of these molecules, based on the laboratory setting of their discovery, as "growth factors," "lymphokines," "cytokines," or "colony stimulating factors," was quite artifactual; they are in fact the basis of a com mon language for intercellular communication. As a set they affect essentially every cell in the body, and in this regard they provide the basis to develop a unified science of cell biology, germane to all of biomedical research. This treatise is divided into four main sections. After three introductory chapters, its principal focus is the detailed description of each of the major peptide growth factors in 26 individual chapters."

This two-volume treatise, the collected effort of more than 50 authors, represents the first comprehensive survey of the chemistry and biology of the set of molecules known as peptide growth factors. Although there have been many symposia on this topic, and numerous publications of reviews dealing with selected subsets of growth factors, the entired field has never been covered in a single treatise. It is essential to do this at the present time, as the number of journal articles on peptide growth factors now makes it almost im anyone person to stay informed on this subject by reading the possible for At the same time it is becoming increasingly apparent that primary literature. these substances are of universal importance in biology and medicine and that the original classification of these molecules, based on the laboratory setting of their discovery, as "growth factors," "lymphokines," "cytokines," or "colony-stimulating factors," was quite artifactual; they are in fact the basis of a common language for intercellular communication. As a set they affect es sentially every cell in the body, and in this regard they provide the basis to develop a unified science of cell biology, germane to all of biomedical research."

It is now apparent that several fields of investigation are converging upon each other as the goal of finding a practical way to prevent cancer is pursued. The present monograph represents the efforts of an interdisciplinary ESO Task Force that was convened to assess interactions of peptide growth factors and steroid-like molecules in the prevention of cancer. Each of the participants in the Task Force represents a differentscientific discipline, and the monogrph is intended to be a synthesis of their different approaches to the common problem of cancer prevention. It is hoped that the reader will find this monograph to be of use in the evaluation of both preclinical and clinical approaches to the major issues that face us in chemoprevention. It is clear that prevention of cancer is an idea whose time has come, and the problem now is to implement the most effective approaches toward achieving the desired goals.

This two-volume treatise, the collected effort of more than 50 authors, represents the first comprehensive survey of the chemistry and biology of the set of molecules known as peptide growth factors. Although there have been many symposia on this topic, and numerous publications of reviews dealing with selected subsets of growth factors, the entire field has never been covered in a single treatise. It is essential to do this at the present time, as the number of journal articles on peptide growth factors now makes it almost impossible for anyone person to stay informed on this subject by reading the primary literature. At the same time it is becoming increasingly apparent that these of universal importance in biology and medicine and that the substances are original classification of these molecules, based on the laboratory setting of their discovery, as "growth factors," "lymphokines," "cytokines," or "colony stimulating factors," was quite artifactual; they are in fact the basis of a com mon language for intercellular communication. As a set they affect essentially every cell in the body, and in this regard they provide the basis to develop a unified science of cell biology, germane to all of biomedical research. This treatise is divided into four main sections. After three introductory chapters, its principal focus is the detailed description of each of the major peptide growth factors in 26 individual chapters."