Bücher der Reihe Developments in Oncology

Significant progress has been made in recent years in understanding the origins of cutaneous maligant melanoma. Knowledge of the relationship between solar radiation and melanoma has changed and it now appears that both the character and timing of exposure may be more important than total cumulative dose in accounting for risk. The melanoma-sunlight model may prove an instructive heuristic exercise for environmental epidemiology, as we currently tend to restrict ourselves to a search for uniform total dose--response relationships between cancers and suspected environmental carcinogens. The study of the relationship between acquired melanocytic nevi and melanoma has led to useful new information about predictors of melanoma risk, and in addition has opened new perspectives on the development of nevi in children. Definition of the factors for nevus development in children may lead to the possibility of primary prevention programs for melanoma in younger generations of children. Recent new evidence suggests that certain occupational groups may be at elevated risk of melanoma. A great deal of work is going into the study of ways of screening high risk populations in order to detect melanoma at its earliest stages when current treatment protocols are most effective. The visibility of lesions on the skin challenges classical definitions of early detection and screening in epidemiology.

With the publication of these proceedings from the Second Drug Discovery and Development Symposium, this forum has become the main mechanism for bringing together the principal groups involved in both discovering and developing new approaches to the treatment of cancer. This Second Symposium emphasized the types of materials being discovered and their therapeutic activity. This is especially evident in the natural product discovery programs, where unique and active structures are being identified. The major contributors to the meeting were the investigators participating in the National Cooperative (Natural Products) Drug Discovery Groups [NC(NP)DDG]. These groups reflect an association among researchers at universities or cancer centers, pharmaceutical companies and the National Cancer Institute. Their sources of materials are varied, reflecting chemical inventories of pharmaceutical companies, organic synthetic compounds from the laboratory, cytotoxics as well as biologics and their hybrids, and natural products obtained from plants, marine organisms and microorganisms. The models employed in the discovery systems vary from broadly cellular based to specific enzymes to defined cellular functions. Each of them is believed important to the malignant state and will allow for the discovery of compounds which will have efficacy in cancer therapy. The goal of the participants is both to discover new anticancer agents and to develop them as efficiently as possible into clinically useful additions to treatment. Of importance is the fact that there are a number of promising leads which will soon be moving into the clinic thereby testing the effectiveness of this NC (NP) DDG approach.

Despite the fact that the incidence of gastric cancer is declining in the Western world, it remains a significant problem with respect to accurate diagnosis and treatment since it has a high mortality rate. In June 1989 an International Conference was held at the University of Rome "La Sapienza" entitled "New Trends in Gastric Cancer: Background and videosurgery". During this meeting background information on the aetiopathogenesis of gastric cancer was presented together with talks and video presentations on the latest advances in the treatment of gastric carcinoma, both from the European and Japanese experience. Because of the poor prognosis of gastric carcinoma there is increasing pressure for early detection. Some of the problems in the early detection of gastric carcinoma are discussed together with methods of surveillance of high-risk subjects. It is generally accepted that the surgical approach to gastric carcinoma should take into account the site and extent of the lesion and there are chapters on new methods for pre and intraoperative staging of the disease which allow a more logical approach to surgery. A comparison between Japanese and Western rule and results was attempted and reasons for the differences were investigated. Since the field is still evolving not all aspects could be covered, and those angles not approached in this book will be addressed in a second International Conference to be held in Rome in June 1990.

Breast cancer is not only a burning public issue, but very soon we shall see genetic testing for a woman's predisposition to breast cancer. Many women will be demanding to know their degree of risk and will need counselling to cope with that information. This book is particularly aimed at primary health care professionals, including physicians, medical assistants, nurses and counsellors, who daily deal with questions from women concerned about their risk of developing breast cancer. To answer such questions, this book has combined a guide to identifying women at higher risk to breast cancer, with a balanced review of approaches which aim to reduce that risk. The book provides practical general measures which may reduce risk for women at average risk. For women at clearly increased risk various protective options with different levels of efficacy and acceptability are discussed. Central to the book is the patient-centered view. We need to face reality that it still will take many years before the current clinical trials of preventive measures provide meaningful results. Meanwhile, women who seek to diminish their risk of breast cancer need all the available information. They must be given full responsibility to make an informed decision on their own health care. Reducing Breast Cancer Risk in Women is a practical handbook, technicalities have been deliberately kept to a minimum, making it concise and easy to read.

Molecular Genetics of Colorectal Neoplasia A Primer for the Clinician provides the latest information on the genetics of colorectal cancer within a context of basic genetics, describing the subject in understandable language and making it clinically relevant.

The development of monoclonal antibodies to human tumor associated antigens has greatly facilitated the application of immunohistochemical techniques to analyze surgically removed tissues. Phenotypes of tumor cells have been identified which correlate with the biology of tumor cells and with the clinical course of the disease.

They include the production and ap plication of monoclonal antibodies against differentiation antigens on the cell sur face, the use of pulse cytophotometry - and cell sorter techniques, the employment of cytogenetics, the development of culture techniques for selective growth of precursor cells and several others.

Many of the discoveries from the biological studies have impacted on the pathologist in the form of disturbing evidence for a single stem cell origin for all the cell types of lung cancer and in the shape of new facilitation in diagnosis by appli cation of immunoperoxidase techniques.

Proceedings of a symposium presented at the University of Southern California, Department of Pathology and the Kenneth J. Norris Cancer Hospital and Research Institute, Los Angeles, U.S.A., November 16-17, 1984

In this book basic principles of pharmacology, mechanisms of drug resis tance, new methods of drug delivery, guidelines for studying new agents in children, new biological response modifiers and the pharmacology of the most commonly used chemotherapeutic agents in children are reviewed in depth.

Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Children's Cancer and Childhood Leukemia -- Present Problems and Future Prospects, December 7-9, 1989

Proceedings of the 8th Annual ECP Symposium

This new work on oral complications of cancer chemotherapy is edited by two dentists who have made pioneering contributions in this previously neglected area.

Proceedings of the Conference on Intra-arterial and Intracavitary Chemotherapy, San Diego, California, February 24-25, 1984

Proceedings of the 10th Anniversary Meeting of the Coordinating Committee for Human Tumour Investigations, Brighton, England (24-28 October 1983)

It has been particularly gratifying to those involved with cancer research and therapy to observe the increasing interest in these diseases being translated into real improvements in patient care - improvements in length of survival, improvements in quality of survival, and improvements in palliative care.

Although the anthracycline antibiotics represent much of the present and future of cancer treatment, their actual use c stretches back barely two decades to the pioneering efforts of Aurelio Di Marco, who characterized the antitumor properties of daunomycin and adriamycin.

The clinical significance of tumor spread has always been appreciated. The mechanisms of metastatic spread are increasingly amenable to both the reductionist and holistic approaches and it is the purpose of this volume to present many of these model systems while emphasizing the intricacy and complexity of the processes they mimic.

A multidisciplinary approach to the problems related to the diagnosis, treat ment, and rehabilitation of patients with oral cancer and precancer is reflected in the various specialties of the authors who contributed to this book.

Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Platinum Coordination Complexes in Cancer Chemotherapy, convened in Burlington, Vermont, by the Vermont Regional Cancer Center and Norris Cotton Cancer Center, June 22-24, 1983