There has been a dramatic increase in knowledge of tight junctions in the past decade. The molecular structure of tight junctions, cellular functions and the pathophysiological roles of tight junctions are becoming clear. Of the most important functions, the role of the cellular structure in cancer spread and drug delivery are increasingly realised. It is now clear that there are fundamental changes to tight junctions during the process of cancer development. Tight junctions are also critical to the metastatic process of cancer cells. The cellular structure is also crucial in drug therapies, namely, the permeability and bioavailability of the drugs, penetration of barriers such as the blood brain barrier. This current volume aims to summarise the current knowledge of tight junctions, their role in cancer and cancer metastasis and is of interest to scientists and clinicians.

The key aim of the proposed chapter is to provide readers a brief description for the most important parts of the field of circulating tumor cells (CTCs): the core techniques, including negative and positive selection-based CTC isolation, and the differences between them. Most importantly, we will also review the clinical applications and important findings in clinical trials. The evidence-based review will not only help clinicians use CTCs to predict recurrence and foresee the disease-related outcomes but also to inspire the researchers in this field to conduct further investigations.

Most cancer deaths are a result of metastasis. The spread of a primary tumor to colonize neighboring and distant organs is the relentless endgame that defines the neoplastic process. Patients who have been diagnosed with cancer are treated to prevent both the recurrence of the tumor at the site of origin and metastasis that would re-stage them as advanced stage IV cancer. Historically and still with some types of cancer, stage IV is perceived by patients as “terminal.” Fortunately, recent molecular therapies have extended the lives of patients with advanced cancer and reassuringly people living with metastatic disease increasingly visit our clinics. What is the path forward? Given that the consilience of science and medicine is a dynamic art from which therapies arise, it would be misguided to consider any single work adequate at capturing the horizon for research. So with humility we constructed this text as primer for scientists. It begins with a broad introduction to the clinical management of common cancers. This is intended to serve as a foundation for investigators to consider when developing basic science hypotheses. Unquestionably, medical and surgical care of cancer patients reveals biology and dictates how novel therapeutics will ultimately be evaluated in clinical trials. The second section of this text offers provocative and evolving insights that underscore the breadth of science involved in the elucidation of cancer metastasis biology. The text concludes with information that integrates scientific and clinical foundations to highlight translational research. This book serves as a framework for scientists to conceptualize clinical and translational knowledge on the complexity of disease that is metastatic cancer.

The clinical significance of tumor spread has always been appreciated. Yet, in spite of the pioneering work and outstanding contributions of investigators such as D. Coman, H. Green, B. Fisher, S. Wood and I. Zeidman, studies on metastasis rarely achieved the popularity afforded to more esoteric areas of tumor biology. Tumor dissemination, occurring as it does in a responding host and being composed of a series of dynamic int~ractions, is a highly complex phenomenon. Few investigators were brave enough to attempt to unravel the mechanisms involved. Paradoxically, this very complexity may have contributed, in part, to the recent upsurge of interest in metastasis research. More and more researchers are becoming fascinated by the complexities of the cellular interactions involved in tumor spread. Accompanying this intellectual stimulation have been technological advances in related fields which allow the derivation of new model systems. The mechanisms of metastatic spread are increasingly amenable to both the reductionist and holistic approaches and it is the purpose of this volume to present many of these model systems while emphasizing the intricacy and complexity of the processes they mimic. We have attempted to emphasize two topics not previously covered in depth in previous books on metastases. These are in vitro models of invasion and in teractions of tumor cells with connective tissue.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of brain metastases, from the molecular biology aspects to therapeutic management and perspectives. Due to the increasing incidence of these tumors and the urgent need to effectively control brain metastatic diseases in these patients, new therapeutic strategies have emerged in recent years. The volume discusses all these innovative approaches combined with new surgical techniques (fluorescence, functional mapping, integrated navigation), novel radiation therapy techniques (stereotactic radiosurgery) and new systemic treatment approaches such as targeted- and immunotherapy. These combination strategies represent a new therapeutic model in brain metastatic patients in which each medical practitioner (neurosurgeon, neurologist, medical oncologist, radiation oncologist) plays a pivotal role in defining the optimal treatment in a multidisciplinary approach. Written by recognized experts in the field, this book is a valuable tool for neurosurgeons, neuro-oncologists, neuroradiologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, cognitive therapists, basic scientists and students working in the area of brain tumors.

This revised second edition is improved linguistically with multiple increases of the number of figures and the inclusion of several novel chapters such as actin filaments during matrix invasion, microtubuli during migration and matrix invasion, nuclear deformability during migration and matrix invasion, and the active role of the tumor stroma in regulating cell invasion.