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 this book, leading experts in cancer immunotherapy join forces to provide a comprehensive guide that sets out the main principles of oncoimmunology and examines the latest advances and their implications for clinical practice, focusing in particular on drugs with FDA/EMA approvals and breakthrough status. The aim is to deliver a landmark educational tool that will serve as the definitive reference for MD and PhD students while also meeting the needs of established researchers and healthcare professionals. Immunotherapy-based approaches are now inducing long-lasting clinical responses across multiple histological types of neoplasia, in previously difficult-to-treat metastatic cancers. The future challenges for oncologists are to understand and exploit the cellular and molecular components of complex immune networks, to optimize combinatorial regimens, to avoid immune-related side effects, and to plan immunomonitoring studies for biomarker discovery. The editors hope that this book will guide future and established health professionals toward the effective application of cancer immunology and immunotherapy and contribute significantly to further progress in the field.

This textbook presents concise chapters written by internationally respected experts on various important aspects of cancer-associated metabolism, offering a comprehensive overview of the central features of this exciting research field. The discovery that tumor cells display characteristic alterations of metabolic pathways has significantly changed our understanding of cancer: while the first description of tumor-specific changes in cellular energetics was published more than 90 years ago, the causal significance of this observation for the pathogenesis of cancer was only discovered in the post-genome era. The first 10 years of the twenty-first century were characterized by rapid advances in our grasp of the functional role of cancer-specific metabolism as well as the underlying molecular pathways. Various unanticipated interrelations between metabolic alterations and cancer-driving pathways were identified and currently await translation into diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Yet the speed, quantity, and complexity of these new discoveries make it difficult for researchers to keep up to date with the latest developments, an issue this book helps to remedy.

The interplay between tumors and their immunologic microenvironment is complex, difficult to decipher, but its understanding is of seminal importance for the development of novel prognostic markers and therapeutic strategies. The present review discusses tumor-immune interactions in several human cancers that illustrate various aspects of this complexity and proposes an integrated scheme of the impact of local immune reactions on clinical outcome. Current active immunotherapy trials have shown durable tumor regressions in a fraction of patients. However, clinical efficacy of current vaccines is limited, possibly because tumors skew the immune system by means of myeloid-derived suppressor cells, inflammatory type 2 T cells and regulatory T cells (Tregs), all of which prevent the generation of effector cells. To improve the clinical efficacy of cancer vaccines in patients with metastatic disease, we need to design novel and improved strategies that can boost adaptive immunity to cancer, help overcome Tregs and allow the breakdown of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment.

At the nexus of advances in molecular genetics and findings in redox biology, this volume elaborates on the dynamics governing cellular redox states and aggregates the body of evidence linking oxidative stress and redox modulation with a host of monogenetic and polygenetic diseases.

It is essential to minimize damage to normal tissues during radiation therapy and many strategies have been employed in finding the best methods for radioprotection. This book integrates chemical, biological, and clinical perspectives on these strategies and developments, providing a comprehensive treatise. It emphasizes new concepts in radioprotection, aiming to inspire further basic science and clinical progress in radioprotector research. Radioprotectors: Chemical, Biological, and Clinical Perspectives includes the following topics: Early research on radioprotectors WR-2721, an aminothiol prodrug, as a radioprotector New results with naturally occurring thiols Nitroxides as effective radioprotectors in vitro and in vivo Radioprotection observed with radical scavengers or antioxidants Bone marrow radioprotection with cytokines and biological modifiers Multiple mechanisms of altering radiation response by eicosanoids Vascular response to radiation and the importance of vascular damage to normal tissue Modifiers of radiation-induced apoptosis Survey of clinical trials with radioprotectors Radiation biologists and oncologists, cancer researchers, and toxicologists will benefit from the findings discussed and strategies for future research.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common newly diagnosed cancer among men in the United States today. With the advent of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, the number of newly diagnosed cases has increased tremendously. The rates of PCa have increased so dramatically over the last decade that the age-adjusted incidence rate of PCa is no greater than that for any other cancer among men in the United States. Although PCa rates have risen steadily since 1973, there has been a dramatic acceleration in the late 1980s which has been associated with the introduction and use of PSA for screening and early detection. There is now some evidence that the rates may be levelling off and even decreasing in some areas. After lung cancer, PCa is the leading cause of death due to cancer in men in the United States. Although PCa can occur in younger men, it is essentially a cancer of elderly men. The highest rates of PCa in the world occur among African-American men in the United States. African-Americans have higher rates than Caucasians at all age levels in the United States, and adjusting for social-economic status does not appear to account for this difference to any appreciable extent. There is no clear reason why PCa rates are so much greater among African-Americans compared with Caucasians in the United States. The reported rates in Africans are substantially lower than those of an African-American, suggesting that environmental factors have an influence on PCa. In spite of this substantial impact on our society. PCa remains a relatively understudied disease, with an essentially unknown etiology. The reviews contained in this book are by no means exhaustive. We have, however, attempted to provide information regarding the pathology of prostate cancer, the status of diagnostic and prognostic markers, as well as a discussion of our understanding of the molecular basis for the disease. The biology of prostate cancer is covered with a discussion on the role of apoptosis in prostate cancer and the suggestion of it being the target for new therapeutic development, as well as the role played by integrins and angiogenesis. The status of current therapies, both hormonal and chemotherapy, are also discussed. This volume should provide a useful background for individuals wishing to commence an in-depth understanding of prostate cancer.