In the last decade, researchers working in the field of cancer biology have shifted their focus from genetic defects to epigenetic dysregulation, especially that of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). This book encompasses a comprehensive review of the transcriptional landscape of the cell and its involvement in the cancer pathophysiology. The first two chapters elucidate the basics of biosynthesis, mechanism of action and modulation of the epigenetic regulation of gene expression by coding as well as non-coding RNAs. The third chapter discusses the aberrant expression of the cellular RNome in the cancer cells and highlights its role in the orchestration of processes involved in evolution as well as the sustenance of cancer cells. The fourth chapter describes the recent advances in the field of translating the transcriptome into diagnostic/prognostic biomarkers and as targets for novel anti-cancer therapies. The final chapter then reviews the emerging experimental approaches to screen, identify and explore the functions of ncRNAs. Providing valuable insights into the field of RNome in the context of cancer, this book is helpful to students, researchers and clinicians..

Cancer cells exist in an ever-changing “ecology” and are subject to evolutionary pressures just like any species in nature. This edited book explores the following themes: 1) how the dynamics of mutation, epigenetics, and gene expression noise are sources of genetic diversity; 2) how scarce resources influence cancer therapy resistance; 3) how predator-prey dynamics are mirrored in immune-cancer cross-talk; 4) how cancer cells parallel niche construction theory; 5) how changing fitness landscapes enable cancer growth; and 6) how cancer cells interact within the body. The book is a resource for understanding cancer as a disease of multicellularity grounded in evolutionary principles. By using this knowledge, researchers are starting to exploit these behaviors for treatment paradigms. Key Features Bridges disciplines exemplifying the ways disparate fields create new perspectives when integrated. Offers insights from leading scholars in cancer biology, ecology and evolutionary biology. Provides a timely recognition by oncologists that evolutionary paradigms are crucial for breakthroughs in cancer treatment. Integrates basic and applied sciences of oncology and evolutionary biology.

Ecology and Evolution of Cancer is a timely work outlining ideas that not only represent a substantial and original contribution to the fields of evolution, ecology, and cancer, but also goes beyond by connecting the interfaces of these disciplines. This work engages the expertise of a multidisciplinary research team to collate and review the latest knowledge and developments in this exciting research field. The evolutionary perspective of cancer has gained significant international recognition and interest, which is fully understandable given that somatic cellular selection and evolution are elegant explanations for carcinogenesis. Cancer is now generally accepted to be an evolutionary and ecological process with complex interactions between tumor cells and their environment sharing many similarities with organismal evolution. As a critical contribution to this field of research the book is important and relevant for the applications of evolutionary biology to understand the origin of cancers, to control neoplastic progression, and to prevent therapeutic failures. - Covers all aspects of the evolution of cancer, appealing to researchers seeking to understand its origins and effects of treatments on its progression, as well as to lecturers in evolutionary medicine - Functions as both an introduction to cancer and evolution and a review of the current research on this burgeoning, exciting field, presented by an international group of leading editors and contributors - Improves understanding of the origin and the evolution of cancer, aiding efforts to determine how this disease interferes with biotic interactions that govern ecosystems - Highlights research that intends to apply evolutionary principles to help predict emergence and metastatic progression with the aim of improving therapies

Why do we get cancer? Is it our modern diets and unhealthy habits? Chemicals in the environment? An unwelcome genetic inheritance? Or is it just bad luck? The answer is all of these and none of them. We get cancer because we can't avoid it—it's a bug in the system of life itself. Cancer exists in nearly every animal and has afflicted humans as long as our species has walked the earth. In Rebel Cell: Cancer, Evolution, and the New Science of Life's Oldest Betrayal, Kat Arney reveals the secrets of our most formidable medical enemy, most notably the fact that it isn't so much a foreign invader as a double agent: cancer is hardwired into the fundamental processes of life. New evidence shows that this disease is the result of the same evolutionary changes that allowed us to thrive. Evolution helped us outsmart our environment, and it helps cancer outsmart its environment as well—alas, that environment is us. Explaining why "everything we know about cancer is wrong," Arney, a geneticist and award-winning science writer, guides readers with her trademark wit and clarity through the latest research into the cellular mavericks that rebel against the rigid biological "society" of the body and make a leap towards anarchy. We need to be a lot smarter to defeat such a wily foe—smarter even than Darwin himself. In this new world, where we know that every cancer is unique and can evolve its way out of trouble, the old models of treatment have reached their limits. But we are starting to decipher cancer's secret evolutionary playbook, mapping the landscapes in which these rogue cells survive, thrive, or die, and using this knowledge to predict and confound cancer's next move. Rebel Cell is a story about life and death, hope and hubris, nature and nurture. It's about a new way of thinking about what this disease really is and the role it plays in human life. Above all, it's a story about where cancer came from, where it's going, and how we can stop it.

Conventional evolutionary theory cannot explain the existence of humans & other complex animals; another mechanism is needed, says James Graham, & it is none other than cancer. This radical theory, already published in a science journal, is aimed at amateurs & professionals. "I think I agree with him... a good idea," John W. Galloway, Nature. "Intriguing...resolves many outstanding problems," SciTech Book News. Literary reviewers like it too: "absorbing...provocative." The Small Press Book Review. "fascinating...sheer intellectual virtuosity." West Coast Review of Books. "distinguished." The Book Reader. Order from: James Graham, PO Box 142, Lexington Virginia 24450 telephone 540 464 4554. Also available from Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and other retailers.

Tumor progression is driven by mutations that confer growth advantages to different subpopulations of cancer cells. As a tumor grows, these subpopulations expand, accumulate new mutations, and are subjected to selective pressures from the environment, including anticancer interventions. This process, termed clonal evolution, can lead to the emergence of therapy-resistant tumors and poses a major challenge for cancer eradication efforts. Written and edited by experts in the field, this collection from Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine examines cancer progression as an evolutionary process and explores how this way of looking at cancer may lead to more effective strategies for managing and treating it. The contributors review efforts to characterize the subclonal architecture and dynamics of tumors, understand the roles of chromosomal instability, driver mutations, and mutation order, and determine how cancer cells respond to selective pressures imposed by anticancer agents, immune cells, and other components of the tumor microenvironment. They compare cancer evolution to organismal evolution and describe how ecological theories and mathematical models are being used to understand the complex dynamics between a tumor and its microenvironment during cancer progression. The authors also discuss improved methods to monitor tumor evolution (e.g., liquid biopsies) and the development of more effective strategies for managing and treating cancers (e.g., immunotherapies). This volume will therefore serve as a vital reference for all cancer biologists as well as anyone seeking to improve clinical outcomes for patients with cancer.

Cancer is everywhere. Around one in three of us will at some time in our lives have an unwelcome diagnosis of cancer; every day 1500 Americans and vastly more non-Americans die of the disease. For Western societies relishing health, wealth, and longevity, its continued prominence is one of thegreatest challenges to our scientists. And the illness we call cancer is extraordinarily diverse in its causation, symptoms, likelihood of effective treatment - in some sense, every patient's cancer is unique, and that is part of the problem. In this important new book, Mel Greaves explains why theold paradigms of infectious diseases or genetic disorders have proved fruitless when trying to account for the complex and elusive puzzle that is cancer. Rather, he claims that looking at cancer in its evolutionary context, we can begin to answer some of the big questions in cancer that concern usall. Drawing on both ancient and more modern evolutionary legacies, he shows how human development has changed the rules of evolutionary games, trapping us in a nature-nurture mismatch. Compelling examples, from the King of Naples intestinal tumour in the 15th Century, through the epidemic ofscrotal skin cancer in 18th century chimney sweeps, to the current surge of cases of prostate cancer illustrate his thesis. And finally, he looks at the implications for research, prevention, and treatment of cancer that an evolutionary perspective provides. Drawing on all the most recentresearch, this is the first book to put cancer in its evolutionary framework. At a time when Darwinian perspectives on everything from language acquisition to economics are gaining ground, medicine seems to have much to gain from the insights provided by evolutionary biology. Written in anexceptionally lucid and entertaining style, this book will be of broad interest to all those who wish to understand the big C, the biggest killer of them all.