Cell Death Signaling in Cancer Biology and Treatment (eBook)

A key goal in the treatment of cancer is to achieve selective and efficient killing of tumor cells. The aim of Cell Death Signaling in Cancer Biology and Treatment is to describe state-of-the-art approaches and future opportunities for achieving this goal by targeting mechanisms and pathways that regulate cancer cell death. In this book, molecular defects in cell death signaling that characterize cancer cells, including dysregulation of cell death due to overexpression/hyperactivation of oncoproteins, as well as the loss of tumor suppressor proteins will be described. The potential for targeting microRNAs will be discussed. Multiple chapters will describe preclinical and clinical approaches that are currently being used to target epigenetic modifications, DNA repair pathways, and protein chaperones, as a means of provoking tumor cell death. Finally, the development and application of novel agents and approaches for targeting specific components of cell death signaling pathways and machinery will be reviewed.

Dr. Daniel E. Johnson received his undergraduate training at North Park University and his doctoral degree in molecular biology from Princeton University.  He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California San Francisco.  In 1993 he joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, where he is currently a Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Pharmacology & Chemical Biology.  Dr. Johnson has served as a standing member on study sections for the National Institutes of Health and American Cancer Society, and is a long-standing Section Editor for the journal Leukemia.  His research has focused on molecular mechanisms of apoptosis in leukemia and head and neck cancer, as well as the mechanisms of myeloid differentiation.  He has placed particular emphasis on the translation of findings from his laboratory to the clinic, and together with physician scientist collaborators has helped develop ongoing trials in both acute myeloid leukemia and head and neck cancer. 

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A key goal in the treatment of cancer is to achieve selective and efficient killing of tumor cells. The aim of Cell Death Signaling in Cancer Biology and Treatment is to describe state-of-the-art approaches and future opportunities for achieving this goal by targeting mechanisms and pathways that regulate cancer cell death. In this book, molecular defects in cell death signaling that characterize cancer cells, including dysregulation of cell death due to overexpression/hyperactivation of oncoproteins, as well as the loss of tumor suppressor proteins will be described. The potential for targeting microRNAs will be discussed. Multiple chapters will describe preclinical and clinical approaches that are currently being used to target epigenetic modifications, DNA repair pathways, and protein chaperones, as a means of provoking tumor cell death. Finally, the development and application of novel agents and approaches for targeting specific components of cell death signaling pathways and machinery will be reviewed.