This textbook takes you on a journey to the basic concepts of cancer biology. It combines developmental, evolutionary and cell biology perspectives, to then wrap-up with an integrated clinical approach.

The book starts with an introductory chapter, looking at cancer in a nut shell. The subsequent chapters are detailed and the idea of cancer as a mass of somatic cells undergoing a micro-evolutionary Darwinian process is explored. Further, the main Hanahan and Weinberg "Hallmarks of Cancer" are revisited. In most chapters, the fundamental experiments that led to key concepts, connecting basic biology and biomedicine are highlighted. In the book's closing section all of these concepts are integrated in clinical studies, where molecular diagnosis as well as the various classical and modern therapeutic strategies are addressed.

The book is written in an easy-to-read language, like a one-on-one conversation between the writer and the reader, without compromising the scientific accuracy. Therefore, this book is suited not only for advanced undergraduates and master students but also for patients or curious lay people looking for a further understanding of this shattering disease

Autorentext

Professor Dr. Rita Fior teaches Molecular and Cell Biology of Cancer at the Faculty of Sciences in the University of Lisbon, Portugal. She is also a Principal Investigator at the Champalimaud Foundation, a renowned state-of-the-art center for Science. She has worked with Julian Lewis (Emeritus Scientist and Fellow of the Royal Society, CRUK). Professor Dr. Rita Zilhão has been teaching for more than 20 years at the Faculty of Sciences in the University of Lisbon, Portugal. At this moment she is responsible for 3 courses: Genetic and Molecular Biology, Basics of Molecular Biology and Molecular and Cell Biology of Cancer. She is the coordinator of the Molecular and Genetic Biology Bachelor Program.

Inhalt

PREFACE

CHAPTER 1

Molecular and Cell Biology of Cancer when cells break the rules and hijack their own planet

CHAPTER 2

Cancer as an Evolutionary Process

CHAPTER 3

Cell signaling in cancer

Chapter 4

"The cell cycle, cytoskeleton and cancer"

CHAPTER 5

Genomic Instability: DNA Repair and Cancer CHAPTER 6

Cell metabolism in cancer - an energetic switch

CHAPTER 7

Cancer immunoediting and hijacking of the immune system

CHAPTER 8

Angiogenesis - vessels recruitment by tumor cells

CHAPTER 9

Tumor niche disruption and metastasis: the role of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)

CHAPTER 10

Case studies - Molecular Pathology perspective and impact on oncologic patients' management

INDEX