One of the primary challenges in the clinical management of cancer patients is to establish the correct diagnosis. For over a century, the primary means of diagnosis has been tumor microscopy, an approach that can readily distinguish benign from malignant…
Chemoprevention is the use of pharmacologic interventions to reduce the risk of cancer or to treat or reduce the risk of intraepithelial neoplasia (IEN ) developing into cancer. As a noninvasive lesion representing an often pathologically discernable intermediate state between…
Growth factors regulate the essential cellular process of proliferation and differentiation. Overproduction of growth factors is a common feature of tumor cells, stimulating unregulated proliferation of themselves in an autocrine fashion, and of adjacent cells in a paracrine fashion. More…
Introduction Cancer is a disease of genetic instability. Although only a few specific alterations seem to be required for generation of the malignant phenotype, at least in colon carcinoma there are approximately 10,000 estimated mutations at time of diagnosis. The…
Acknowledgments CM Croce is supported by Program Project Grants from the National Cancer Institute. GA Calin is the Alan M. Gewirtz Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Scholar. He is also supported as a Fellow at the University of Texas MD Anderson…
Introduction Genetic alterations are the driving force behind cancer development and progression. It follows that cancer could potentially be treated by correcting these alterations using gene therapy or by agents that kill cells by mechanisms based on these genetic alterations.…
Acknowledgment This chapter is revised and updated from the same chapter in the prior edition of Molecular Basis of Cancer. That chapter was written by the author together with R. Silverman and G. Sen of the Cleveland Clinic, whose prior…
Therapeutic vaccination for cancer continues to be a major approach to the overall immunotherapy of cancer. Historically, interest in cancer immunology stemmed from the perceived potential activity of the immune system as a weapon against cancer cells. In fact, the…
Introduction Key features of the immune system are its abilities to distinguish self from nonself, to recognize and respond to a myriad of foreign molecules (antigens) with exquisite specificity, to remember previously encountered antigens and quickly mobilize an expanded response,…
Introduction Monoclonal antibodies have emerged as mainstays of cancer therapy and have had a significant impact on the morbidity and mortality of several cancers. This chapter will discuss the attributes that make antibodies powerful cancer therapeutics, how some antibodies are…