This work covers the pathophysiology of cancer, exploring the difficulty of optimal treatment due to the complexity and diversity of cancer types. The search for distinctive molecular biology characteristics of tumor cells is especially relevant in the identification of overexpressed receptors and proteins that can be used as a target for cancer treatment. We highlight the main therapeutic modalities, particularly conventional systemic chemotherapy, addressing its mechanisms of action, therapeutic classes and even the toxic effects. We also describe the main tumor markers, their importance in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, and the specificity of tumor cells. The first chapters serve as an introduction to the central topic of this book, targeted therapy. Key aspects of target therapy, such as classes of drugs, immunotherapy, monoclonal antibodies, checkpoint inhibitors, cancer vaccines and tyrosine kinase inhibitors are presented, and, for each one, the benefits, as well as the adverse effects are reported. Chapter 6 compares conventional systemic chemotherapy and targeted therapy, identifies the risks and benefits and also the eligibility criteria for patient care. The possibility of targeted therapy replacing conventional chemotherapy is discussed while reviewing studies that demonstrate the benefits of combining both types of treatment. Finally, the introduction of pharmaceutical nanotechnology to improve antineoplastic agents is addressed in the last chapter and sets the direction for future research in cancer treatment. This is a valuable resource for many health professionals including physicians, pharmacists, nurses, researchers and students interested in the field of oncology.

Advances in Cancer Research, Volume 137, the latest release in this ongoing, well-regarded serial provides invaluable information on the exciting and fast-moving field of cancer research. This volume presents original reviews on research bridging oncology and gene expression, with this volume covering unconventional approaches to modulating the immunogenicity of tumor cells, tumor dormancy and immunoediting, the emerging role of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins in chemoresistance, Beclin-1 and autophagy, MDA-7/IL-24, and nanotechnology and medicine.

Cancer continues to be one of the major causes of death throughout the developed world, which has led to increased research on effective treatments. Because of this, in the past decade, rapid progress in the field of cancer treatment has been seen. Recent Advances in Cancer Research and Therapy reviews in specific details some of the most effective and promising treatments developed in research centers worldwide. While referencing advances in traditional therapies and treatments such as chemotherapy, this book also highlights advances in biotherapy including research using Interferon and Super Interferon, HecI based and liposome based therapy, gene therapy, and p53 based cancer therapy. There is also a discussion of current cancer research in China including traditional Chinese medicine. Written by leading scientists in the field, this book provides an essential insight into the current state of cancer therapy and treatment. - Includes a wide range of research areas including a focus on biotherapy and the development of novel cancer therapeutic strategies. - Formatted for a broad audience including all working in researching cancer treatments and therapies. - Discusses special traits and results of Chinese cancer research.

Advances in Cancer Research, Volume 150, the latest release in this ongoing series, covers the relationship(s) between autophagy and senescence, how they are defined, and the influence of these cellular responses on tumor dormancy and disease recurrence. Specific sections in this new release include Autophagy and senescence, converging roles in pathophysiology, Cellular senescence and tumor promotion: role of the unfolded protein response, autophagy and senescence in cancer stem cells, Targeting the stress support network regulated by autophagy and senescence for cancer treatment, Autophagy and PTEN in DNA damage-induced senescence, mTOR as a senescence manipulation target: A forked road, and more. - Addresses the relationship between autophagy and senescence in cancer therapy - Covers autophagy and senescence in tumor dormancy - Explores autophagy and senescence in disease recurrence

At present there are a growing number of biomolecules under investigation to understand their potential role as cancer biomarker for diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic purposes. Intriguingly, the state of art on cancer biomarkers research shows interesting and promising results together to clamorous failures. Also from a clinical point of view, there are contradictory results on routine clinical use of the present cancer biomarkers. Some patients may be simply monitored in their course by a periodic blood sample, but sometimes this monitoring shows dramatic limits. A lot of patients show serious and extensive relapses without significant change in serum concentrations of biomarkers tested. Often the physician who should utilize these biomarker does not entirely know their limits and the total potential applications as well and sometimes this knowledge is influenced by economical and marketing strategies. This limited and "polluted" knowledge may have dramatic consequences for patient. The aim of this book is to diffuse all aspects of cancer biomarkers, from their biochemical peculiarities to all clinical implications by passing through their physiology and pathophysiology. This critical approach towards old and new cancer biomarkers should foster a deepened and useful understanding of the diagnostic and prognostic index of these fundamental parameters of laboratory medicine and in the same time facilitating the research of new and more sensitive-specific signals of the cancer cell proliferation.

Advances in cancer research have led to an improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms underpinning the development of cancer and how the immune system responds to cancer. This influx of research has led to an increasing number and variety of therapies in the drug development pipeline, including targeted therapies and associated biomarker tests that can select which patients are most likely to respond, and immunotherapies that harness the body's immune system to destroy cancer cells. Compared with standard chemotherapies, these new cancer therapies may demonstrate evidence of benefit and clearer distinctions between efficacy and toxicity at an earlier stage of development. However, there is a concern that the traditional processes for cancer drug development, evaluation, and regulatory approval could impede or delay the use of these promising cancer treatments in clinical practice. This has led to a number of effortsâ€"by patient advocates, the pharmaceutical industry, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)â€"to accelerate the review of promising new cancer therapies, especially for cancers that currently lack effective treatments. However, generating the necessary data to confirm safety and efficacy during expedited drug development programs can present a unique set of challenges and opportunities. To explore this new landscape in cancer drug development, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine developed a workshop held in December 2016. This workshop convened cancer researchers, patient advocates, and representatives from industry, academia, and government to discuss challenges with traditional approaches to drug development, opportunities to improve the efficiency of drug development, and strategies to enhance the information available about a cancer therapy throughout its life cycle in order to improve its use in clinical practice. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Cancer deaths per capita have decreased in recent years, but the improvement is attributed to prevention, not treatment. The difficulty in treating cancer may be due to its 'complexity', in the mathematical physics sense of the word. Tumors evolve and spread in response to internal and external factors that involve feedback mechanisms and nonlinear behavior. Investigations of the nonlinear interactions among cells, and between cells and their environment, are crucial for developing a sufficiently detailed understanding of the system's emergent phenomenology to be able to control the behavior. In the case of cancer, controlling the system's behavior will mean the ability to treat and cure the disease. Physicists have been studying various complex, nonlinear systems for many years using a variety of techniques. These investigations have provided insights that allow physicists to make unique contributions towards the treatment of cancer.This interdisciplinary book presents recent advancements in physicists' research on cancer. The work presented in this volume uses a variety of physical, biochemical, mathematical, theoretical, and computational techniques to gain a deeper molecular and cellular understanding of the horrific disease that is cancer.

An ideal health care system relies on efficiently generating timely, accurate evidence to deliver on its promise of diminishing the divide between clinical practice and research. There are growing indications, however, that the current health care system and the clinical research that guides medical decisions in the United States falls far short of this vision. The process of generating medical evidence through clinical trials in the United States is expensive and lengthy, includes a number of regulatory hurdles, and is based on a limited infrastructure. The link between clinical research and medical progress is also frequently misunderstood or unsupported by both patients and providers. The focus of clinical research changes as diseases emerge and new treatments create cures for old conditions. As diseases evolve, the ultimate goal remains to speed new and improved medical treatments to patients throughout the world. To keep pace with rapidly changing health care demands, clinical research resources need to be organized and on hand to address the numerous health care questions that continually emerge. Improving the overall capacity of the clinical research enterprise will depend on ensuring that there is an adequate infrastructure in place to support the investigators who conduct research, the patients with real diseases who volunteer to participate in experimental research, and the institutions that organize and carry out the trials. To address these issues and better understand the current state of clinical research in the United States, the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Forum on Drug Discovery, Development, and Translation held a 2-day workshop entitled Transforming Clinical Research in the United States. The workshop, summarized in this volume, laid the foundation for a broader initiative of the Forum addressing different aspects of clinical research. Future Forum plans include further examining regulatory, administrative, and structural barriers to the effective conduct of clinical research; developing a vision for a stable, continuously funded clinical research infrastructure in the United States; and considering strategies and collaborative activities to facilitate more robust public engagement in the clinical research enterprise.

This volume includes contributions presented at the Second International Sym posium on Nutrition and Cancer, held in Naples, Italy, in October 1998 at the National Tumor Institute "Fondazione Pascale." During the Conference, experts from different disciplines discussed pivotal and timely subjects on the interactions between human nutrition and the development of malignancies. Comparing the themes of this Meeting with those discussed at the First Sympo sium in 1992, the major scientific advancements certainly derive from the extensive use of molecular approaches to perform research in nutrition. Moreover, the fundamental observation of R. Doll and R. Peto (1981), which suggested that at least 35% of all cancers (with large differences among different tumors) might be prevented by dietary regimens, has been definitively confirmed by epidemiological studies. On the other hand, the relationships between diet and cancer are quite intricate and complex; it is difficult, and at the same time not methodologically correct, to reduce them to simple terms. Metabolic and hormonal factors, contaminants and biological agents, and deficiency of specific protective nutrients are all pieces of the same puzzle.