Heat shock proteins are emerging as important molecules in the development of cancer and as key targets in cancer therapy. These proteins enhance the growth of cancer cells and protect tumors from treatments such as drugs or surgery. However, new drugs have recently been developed particularly those targeting heat shock protein 90. As heat shock protein 90 functions to stabilize many of the oncogenes and growth promoting proteins in cancer cells, such drugs have broad specificity in many types of cancer cell and offer the possibility of evading the development of resistance through point mutation or use of compensatory pathways. Heat shock proteins have a further property that makes them tempting targets in cancer immunotherapy. These proteins have the ability to induce an inflammatory response when released in tumors and to carry tumor antigens to antigen presenting cells. They have thus become important components of anticancer vaccines. Overall, heat shock proteins are important new targets in molecular cancer therapy and can be approached in a number of contrasting approaches to therapy.

Due to the paucity of reviews on this subject, this volume aims to be timely and promote additional basic and translational research on these proteins in reproductive system development and function within the fields of Anatomy, Embryology and Cell Biology. The breadth of the work being conducted within Reproduction is exemplified by the contributors to this series who will provide reviews on: Grp78 roles in female reproduction, small heat shock proteins/co-chaperones as players in uterine smooth muscle function, the role of heat shock proteins in sperm function and maternal contribution to oogenesis and early embryogenesis, heat shock factors and testes development, HSP90 in ovarian biology and pathology, and the role of HSP70 in regulation of autophagy in pregnancy and parturition.

Heat Shock Proteins and Plants provides the most up-to-date and concise reviews and progress on the role of heat shock proteins in plant biology, structure and function and is subdivided into chapters focused on Small Plant HSPs (Part I), Larger Plant HSPs (Part II) and HSPs for Therapeutic Gain (Part III). This book is written by eminent leaders and experts from around the world and is an important reference book and a must-read for undergraduate, postgraduate students and researchers in the fields of Agriculture, Botany, Crop Research, Plant Genetics and Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Drug Development and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

The book Heat Shock Proteins and Stress provides the most comprehensive review on contemporary knowledge on the role of HSP in Stress. Using an integrative approach to understanding the regulation of HSP responses, the contributors provide a synopsis of novel mechanisms by which HSP responses are regulated under normal physiological and pathophysiological conditions. Key basic and clinical research laboratories from major universities and academic medical hospitals around the world contribute chapters that review present research activity and importantly project the field into the future. The book is a must read for researchers, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students in the fields of Translational Medicine, Clinical Psychologists, Human Physiology, Zoologists, Botanists, Biotechnology, Molecular Medicine, Infectious Diseases Experts and Pathologists.

This books provides up-to-date reviews on current advances of the role of HSP in veterinary medicine and research. Key basic and clinical research laboratories from major universities, veterinary hospitals and pharmaceutical companies around the world have contributed chapters that review present research activity and importantly project this field into the future. For easy readability, the book is sub divided into sections on HSP in the following aspects of Veterinary Medicine, including, I - Domestic Animals, II - Poultry, III - Aquatic and IV - Parasites. The book is a must read for heat shock protein researchers in general and specifically those involved in clinical and research in veterinary medicine.

This edited volume offers an insightful overview of contemporary research on signaling pathways. These signaling processes are the comprehensive mechanisms by which all cellular organisms communicate internally and externally with their microenvironment. The volume is focused on heat shock proteins (HSP), which are uniquely involved in a number of critical signaling pathways. Errors in signaling pathways and in the processing of cellular information are known to be responsible for the majority of diseases including cancer, inflammatory and neurological disorders. The knowledge gained from better understanding these mechanisms can help in elucidating disease processes and will assist in development and design of novel targeted treatment therapies to combat human diseases and disorders. Key basic and clinical research laboratories from major universities, academic medical hospitals, biotechnology and pharmaceutical laboratories around the world have contributed chapters that review present research activity and importantly project the field into the future. The book is a must read for graduate students. medical students, basic science researchers and postdoctoral scholars in the fields of Translational Medicine, Clinical Research, Human Physiology, Biotechnology, Cell & Molecular Medicine, Pharmaceutical Scientists and Researchers involved in Drug Discovery.