Tumor Matrix Biology 1995

This book would like to present the latest findings on different aspects of tumor matrix formation in connection with the tumor progression and metastasis and on alterations in the cellular components of tumor stroma during tumor demarcation and invasion.

This volume provides an overview on the influence of Extracellular Matrix (ECM) on tumor progression. It covers topics such as signaling induced by structural ECM proteins including collagen and fibronectin, the control of ECM deposition and the turnover in tumors. Also discussed are the migration of cells through basement membranes and the function of proteoglycans including lumican and veriscan in tumor progression. Biomaterial-based in-vitro models as well as C. elegans models of the tumor microenvironment are used to show how these models can lead to a greater understanding of the disease mechanisms that promote cancer progression. The book addresses researchers working on cancer biology or ECM, and oncologists alike.

This report considers the biological and behavioral mechanisms that may underlie the pathogenicity of tobacco smoke. Many Surgeon General's reports have considered research findings on mechanisms in assessing the biological plausibility of associations observed in epidemiologic studies. Mechanisms of disease are important because they may provide plausibility, which is one of the guideline criteria for assessing evidence on causation. This report specifically reviews the evidence on the potential mechanisms by which smoking causes diseases and considers whether a mechanism is likely to be operative in the production of human disease by tobacco smoke. This evidence is relevant to understanding how smoking causes disease, to identifying those who may be particularly susceptible, and to assessing the potential risks of tobacco products.

Lung cancer is a disease with pandemic public health implications as it is now the leading cause of cancer mortality throughout the world. This book results from two recent International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) Workshops on lung cancer prevention. It strikes a balance between considering public health approaches to tobacco control and population-based screening, advances in clinical evaluation of chemoprevention approaches, and the biology of lung carcinogenesis. Indeed, while the science of smoking cessation is evolving as new pharmacological tools are moving into clinical evaluation, the current impact of molecular diagnostics is profound. The rapidly-evolving diagnostic technologies are revolutionizing basic scientific investigation of cancer, and this trend is expected to soon spill over into the clinical practice of medicine. The evolution of economical diagnostic platforms to allow for direct bronchial epithelial evaluation in high-risk populations promises to improve the diagnostic lead-time for this disease. The hope is that enough progress will occur to permit lung cancer detection in advance of clinical cancer so that the disease can be addressed early on, while it is still confined to the site of origin. Chemoprevention, which is designed to intervene in the early phase of carcinogenesis prior to any subjective clinical manifestation of a cancer, is also generating greater research interest. Moreover, the benefit of aerosolized administration of chemoprevention agents over conventional oral administration has strong appeal and may result in the reduction of the incidence of cancer when combined with new diagnostic technologies.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common newly diagnosed cancer among men in the United States today. With the advent of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, the number of newly diagnosed cases has increased tremendously. The rates of PCa have increased so dramatically over the last decade that the age-adjusted incidence rate of PCa is no greater than that for any other cancer among men in the United States. Although PCa rates have risen steadily since 1973, there has been a dramatic acceleration in the late 1980s which has been associated with the introduction and use of PSA for screening and early detection. There is now some evidence that the rates may be levelling off and even decreasing in some areas. After lung cancer, PCa is the leading cause of death due to cancer in men in the United States. Although PCa can occur in younger men, it is essentially a cancer of elderly men. The highest rates of PCa in the world occur among African-American men in the United States. African-Americans have higher rates than Caucasians at all age levels in the United States, and adjusting for social-economic status does not appear to account for this difference to any appreciable extent. There is no clear reason why PCa rates are so much greater among African-Americans compared with Caucasians in the United States. The reported rates in Africans are substantially lower than those of an African-American, suggesting that environmental factors have an influence on PCa. In spite of this substantial impact on our society. PCa remains a relatively understudied disease, with an essentially unknown etiology. The reviews contained in this book are by no means exhaustive. We have, however, attempted to provide information regarding the pathology of prostate cancer, the status of diagnostic and prognostic markers, as well as a discussion of our understanding of the molecular basis for the disease. The biology of prostate cancer is covered with a discussion on the role of apoptosis in prostate cancer and the suggestion of it being the target for new therapeutic development, as well as the role played by integrins and angiogenesis. The status of current therapies, both hormonal and chemotherapy, are also discussed. This volume should provide a useful background for individuals wishing to commence an in-depth understanding of prostate cancer.

Knowledge about diagnostic procedures in melanoma has in creased rapidly within the past few years. Single tumor cells have been identified in normal tissue such as sentinel lymph nodes, as well as in bone marrow, peripheral blood, and other bodily fluids and cells, by molecular technologies. The introduction of polymerase chain reaction-based methods can be regarded as a prototype of this dramatic development towards molecular approaches in new diagnostic procedures. This fact opens up the possibility of clinical use in patients and of influencing treatment strategies. Considerable discrepancies have been described, how ever, in the success rates of these new techniques for the detec tion of minimal residual disease in cancer patients. Despite fav orable results reported by different groups of investigators, it will take several years to define the clinical and pathophysiological relevance of new diagnostic procedures. The 1st International Symposium "Minimal Residual Disease in Melanoma: Biology, Detection and Clinical Relevance of Microme tastases", held in September 1999 in Homburg/Saar, Germany, fo cused on recent developments in this particular area of cancer re search. The purpose of the meeting was to stimulate discussion and exchange of new data and ideas by renowned international scientists. The aim of this volume is to summarize major topics of basic research and clinical investigations presented by invited experts in this fascinating but still. controversial field of melanoma re search.

In recent years, serine proteases and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) have gained considerable attention in tumor biology. For most of these proteases, their expression is a reliable indication of ongoing tissue remodeling. This book provides a comprehensive evaluation of the mechanisms of action of proteases and their inhibitors in tumor biology. The first part provides the reader with a selective overview of the molecular biology of serine proteases, MMPs and their physiological inhibitors. The most important proteases and their physiological as well as synthetic inhibitors are evaluated in the most relevant models of experimental and human cancer. The clinical aspects are also taken into account. This volume offers an update on this challenging aspect of cancer treatment, its interest bias, and possible clinical implication.