Cytokines And Growth Factors

Leading international experts contribute to this selection of reviews covering the merging fields of growth factors, differentiation factors, and cytokines. These appear to play fundamental roles in a wide variety of physiological and pathophysiological processes that include the regulation of growth in normal and malignant cells, embryogenesis, the immune response, wound healing, inflammation, and atherogenesis. The major aspects of recent research and development are discussed, providing an important update in this pioneering field.

The affect of xenobiotics on host resistance in general and specific immune functions has become the focus of much current research. This book synthesises current information on how chemicals (xenobiotics) can affect the immune system to cuse dysfunction, focusing on the process of inflammation. It provides a much needed, single-source reference for researchers investigation the mechanisms responsible for altered host resistance following exposture to xenobiotics. Emphasis is placed on the roles of cytokines and growth factors in the inflammatory process and how such processes are altered and modulated by xenobiotics. This volume contains information pertinent to those exploring cell growth, angiogenesis, hematopoetic differentiation, and recruitment to and proliferation of cells in various tissue sites. This volume brings together experts in inflammation, cytokines, cell growth, immunology and toxicology to provide a highly yseful volume modulated by chemicals. Divided into three sections, the book offers an organ system approach to understanding inflammation and xenobiotics.

This book describes the diverse roles that growth factors and cytokines play in skeletal muscle. The extracellular environment has profound effects on the biology of skeletal muscle. The soluble portion of this environment includes a rich milieu of growth factors and cytokines which have been shown to regulate virtually all facets of the response of skeletal muscle to external stimuli, whether it be exercise induced metabolic shifts, remodeling in response to trauma or loading of the ongoing pathology associated with neuromuscular disease. The chapters included in this work illustrate growth factors that directly affect skeletal muscle cells and those which influence non-muscle cells that contribute to the biology of skeletal muscle as a whole tissue. The current state of the art, with the advent of systems biology, allows for the delineation of signaling networks which are regulated by suites of growth factors. This is in stark contrast to early more traditional studies, which only examined the effects of isolated growth factors on the activity of skeletal muscle precursor cells in tissue culture. The work presented in this volume ranges from reviewing and analyzing the roles of individual growth factors in detail, to the complex interplay of multiple soluble factors in the control of muscle functional, and dysfunctional states. The material covered in this volume will particularly suit readers from a range of research fields spanning general muscle biology and physiology, and those working on diseases and conditions affecting skeletal muscle both directly and indirectly.

The hematopoietic system plays roles that are crucial for survival of the host: delivery of oxygen to tissues, arrest of accidental blood leaking from blood vessels, and fending off of invading microbes by humoral, cell-mediated, and phagocytic immunity. The activity of the hematopoietic system is staggering: daily, a normal adult produces approximately 2.5 billion erythrocytes, 2.5 billion platelets, and 1 billion granulocytes per kilogram of body weight. This production is adjusted in a timely fashion to changes in actual needs and can vary from nearly none to many times the normal rate depending on needs which vary from day to day, or even minute to minute. In response to a variety of stimuli, the cellular components of the blood are promptly increased or decreased in production to maintain appropriate numbers to optimally protect the host from hypoxia, infection, and hemorrhage. How does this all happen and happen without over or under responding? There has been extraordinary growth in our understanding ofhematopoiesis over the last two decades. Occupying center stage is the pluripotent stern cell and its progeny. Hematopoietic stern cells have been characterized by their capacity for self renewal and their ability to proliferate and differentiate along multiple lineages. Few in number, the stern cell gives rise to all circulating neutrophils, erythrocytes, lymphoid cells, and platelets. In hematopoietic transplantation, the stern cell is capable of restoring long-term hematopoiesis in a lethally irradiated host.

Handbook of Growth Factors, Volume III is devoted to hematopoiesis and its regulation by endogenous factors with growth stimulatory and growth inhibitory properties. The book provides detailed discussions on signaling agents related to the regulation of hematopoiesis, including the interleukins, the colony-stimulating factors, the interferons, the tumor necrosis factors, the erythropoietic growth factors, the platelet-derived growth factor, the leukemia inhibitory factor, and the transferrins. The structure and function of each factor is covered in detail, as well as its receptor and postreceptor mechanism of action and its possible role in neoplastic processes. The book also explores the present state of the knowledge about megakaryocyte growth factors and macrophage-derived growth factors.

Holland-Frei Cancer Medicine, Ninth Edition, offers a balanced view of the most current knowledge of cancer science and clinical oncology practice. This all-new edition is the consummate reference source for medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, internists, surgical oncologists, and others who treat cancer patients. A translational perspective throughout, integrating cancer biology with cancer management providing an in depth understanding of the disease An emphasis on multidisciplinary, research-driven patient care to improve outcomes and optimal use of all appropriate therapies Cutting-edge coverage of personalized cancer care, including molecular diagnostics and therapeutics Concise, readable, clinically relevant text with algorithms, guidelines and insight into the use of both conventional and novel drugs Includes free access to the Wiley Digital Edition providing search across the book, the full reference list with web links, illustrations and photographs, and post-publication updates

Over the past ten years, a number of cytokines and growth factors have proven to be as effective therapeutics. While these products have certainly established recombinant biologics as a major pharmaceutical growth sector, the continued interest in this class of drugs arises from the fact that today we have a far better understanding of the human immune response, both at a cellular and molecular level. This has resulted in a more methodical characterisation of these factors which has given clinical researchers an opportunity to plan Phase 1 clinical trials that can provide substantial information on the activity of the cytokine in humans. Currently, a great deal of effort is also being channelled into identifying cytokines from the various DNA databases. Our major objective for this book is to profile cytokines that have been recently identified. The therapeutic potential of these cytokines based on their known properties will be discussed by the authors. The main aim of this book is to provide...