Poly-ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) proteins are critical mediators of DNA repair. Many traditional anti-cancer chemotherapy agents overwhelm a cell’s ability to repair DNA damage in order to kill proliferating malignant cells. Recent evidence suggests that cancers within and across tissue types have specific defects in DNA repair pathways, and that these defects may predispose for sensitivity and resistance to various classes of cytotoxic agents. Breast, ovarian and other cancers develop in the setting of inherited DNA repair deficiency, and these cancers may be more sensitive to cytotoxic agents that induce DNA strand breaks, as well as to inhibitors of PARP activity. A series of recent clinical trials has tested whether PARP inhibitors can achieve synthetic lethality in hereditary DNA repair-deficient tumors. At the current time, mutation of BRCA serves as a potential, but not comprehensive, biomarker to predict response to PARP inhibitor therapy. Mechanisms of resistance to PARP inhibitors are only recently being uncovered. Future studies seek to identify sporadic cancers that harbor genomic instability rendering susceptibility to PARP inhibitors that compound lethal DNA damage.

Principles and Practice of Stereotactic Radiosurgery, Second Edition serves as the definitive reference textbook for SRS practitioners. It provides a theoretical basis for the use of therapeutic radiation including imaging techniques and radiobiology. The bulk of the textbook contains chapters that are comprehensive in scope on all diseases that are treated by SRS. Lastly, it addresses administrative and technical aspects of running an SRS unit. Each chapter provides an expansive treatment of the subject, with emphasis placed on the technical aspects of SRS so that practitioners in this field can use it as a daily reference. Written by noted experts in the field, Principles and Practice of Stereotactic Radiosurgery, Second Edition is the only reference needed for neurosurgeons, radiation oncologists and medical physicists at all levels of training and practice who are interested in SRS.

This book serves as a practical guide for the use of stereotactic body radiation therapy in clinics. On the basis of more than 10 years of clinical experience with lung cancer, liver cancer and other cancers, a remarkable volume of knowledge has been accumulated. At the same time, great progress in techniques has been achieved. Various new fixing apparatuses, new respiratory regulation techniques, new dose fractionation schedules and new image-guided radiation therapy machines have been developed. This book reviews the history of those developments and reports on various types of toxicities. Review of recent clinical studies is also included. The authors were key members of the JCOG 0403 clinical trials on stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for both inoperable and operableT1N0M0 primary lung cancer. Readers will learn of the superior outcomes obtained with SBRT for lung cancer and other cancers in terms of local control and toxicities. With its practical focus, this book will benefit radiation oncologists, medical physicists, medical dosimetrists, radiation therapists and senior nurses as well as medical oncologists and surgical oncologists who are interested in radiotherapy.