Cancer Metastasis From Mechanisms to Therapies

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0471952664

This series is designed to bridge the gap between pure research in the biomedical sciences and its practical application in clinical medicine. The objective is to promote the understanding of the molecular basis of human physiology and disease, and new techniques for diagnosis and treatment. Primarily intended for graduate students of medicine, the books will also be of use to molecular biologists, biochemists, physiologists, pharmacologists and biotechnologists, as well as medical practitioners and technicians who seek to update their knowledge. There is a current wealth of knowledge regarding the genetic events which combine to transform a normal cell into a growth transformed cancer cell. Until recently, less has been understood, at the molecular level, of how growth transformed cells acquire the ability to metastasise—that is, to move away from the primary tumour mass, survive in the circulation and grow at distant body sites to form secondary tumour deposits. For the clinician, it is usually metastases, rather than the primary tumours, which present the most acute threat to the survival of the patient. Following on from An Introduction to the Molecular Genetics of Cancer, which covered the process of primary growth transformation of cancer cells, Cancer Metastasis: From Mechanisms to Therapies details the genetic basis of the secondary process of cancer cell metastasis. It is intended for both basic scientists and clinicians, who share an interest in understanding the therapeutic significance of the molecular mechanisms of metastasis.