Reviews the origins of molecular oncology, including technologies for cancer analysis, key pathways in human malignancies, and available pharmacologic therapies.

The genomic era has allowed enormous strides in our understanding of the molecular changes that underlie malignant transformation. Mutations have been discovered that are critical drivers of large cross-sections of human cancers. These discoveries have allowed us to find drugs that target these drivers and make important strides in treatment. Genomics and high-throughput technologies have illuminated the complexity of cancer and the facility with which cancers adapt during their natural history. The field is evolving rapidly with new discoveries and new drugs reported monthly. This book is a timely foundation for understanding in context the origins of molecular oncology and its future directions. The content reviews available technologies for the analysis of cancer tissues and genes; summaries of key oncogenic pathways from a molecular perspective; the technologies, pathways and targeted therapies of a wide range of human malignancies; and new pharmacologic therapies that have a common mechanistic target.

Demonstrating how the malfunction of normal molecular pathways and components can lead to cancer, this text explores how our understanding of these defective mechanisms can be harnessed to develop new targeted therapeutic agents.

The first comprehensive reference to focus on the molecular development and treatment of the disease, Molecular Oncology of Breast Cancer provides authoritative information across the spectrum of modern breast cancer research and clinical care. Edited by two world-class experts in cancer pathology, drug development, and patient management, with contributions from over 50 experts, this ground-breaking text describes the genes, proteins, and biologic pathways that are being evaluated today and will be tested in the future to derive the molecular signature of each newly diagnosed breast cancer. For the first time, readers can now obtain, in a single volume, up-to-date information on how molecular-based tests are being used to identify predisposition, provide earliest detection, decide classification based on genetic fingerprint and predict therapy-specific outcomes. MOBC includes unique chapters on functional imaging and the impact of targeted therapies on the FDA approval process. This book gives readers vital, up-to-date information on important molecular discoveries that affect the everyday management of the breast cancer patient.

Successfully fighting cancer starts with understanding how it begins. This thoroughly revised 3rd Edition explores the scientific basis for our current understanding of malignant transformation and the pathogenesis and treatment of cancer. A team of leading experts thoroughly explain the molecular biologic principles that underlie the diagnostic tests and therapeutic interventions now being used in clinical trials and practice. Incorporating cutting-edge advances and the newest research, the book provides thorough descriptions of everything from molecular abnormalities in common cancers to new approaches for cancer therapy. Features sweeping updates throughout, including molecular targets for the development of anti-cancer drugs, gene therapy, and vaccines...keeping you on the cutting edge of your specialty. Offers a new, more user-friendly full-color format so the information that you need is easier to find. Presents abundant figures-all redrawn in full color-illustrating major concepts for easier comprehension. Features numerous descriptions of the latest clinical strategies-helping you to understand and take advantage of today’s state-of-the-art biotechnology advances.

Molecular Therapies of Cancer comprehensively covers the molecular mechanisms of anti-cancer drug actions in a comparably systematic fashion. While there is currently available a great deal of literature on anti-cancer drugs, books on the subject are often concoctions of invited review articles superficially connected to one another. There is a lack of comprehensive and systematic text on the topic of molecular therapies in cancer. A further deficit in the relevant literature is a progressive sub-specialization that typically limits textbooks on cancer drugs to cover either pharmacology or medicinal chemistry or signal transduction, rather than explaining molecular drug actions across all those areas; Molecular Therapies of Cancer fills this void. The book is divided into five sections: 1. Molecular Targeting of Cancer Cells; 2. Emerging and Alternative Treatment Modalities; 3. Molecular Targeting of Tumor-Host Interactions; 4. Anti-Cancer Drug Pharmacokinetics; and 5. Supportive Therapies.

We are currently experiencing a fundamental shift in the way in which we approach the characterization of cancer. Never before has the make up of cancer tissues and individual cells been so exhaustively researched and char- terized. We are now capable of producing molecular “fingerprints” that ch- acterize the expression of all known and unknown genes within tumors and their surrounding tissues. More than 30,000 different genes may be measured in each patient’s tumor in a single experiment. Simultaneously, novel therapies that exploit the molecular roadmap have been developed and are now being offered to patients. These novel agents, such as Glivec, Herceptin, Iressa, and others, specifically target individual genes within tumors and can produce d- matic responses in some patients. These drugs are only the forerunners of a coming tidal wave of novel therapeutics that individually target specific m- ecules within cancer cells—more than 300 such agents are currently in phase I or II clinical trials. This is an exciting time for cancer specialists and patients alike. However, if we have learned anything from the past 50 or more years of research into cancer, it is that Lord Beaverbrook, in founding the British national health service in the 1950s, was frighteningly prescient when he defined the primary goal of health care to be “Diagnosis, Diagnosis, Diag- sis. ” Now, more than ever, it is essential that appropriate diagnostic methods and approaches are applied to the selection of patients for treatment.