Understanding Carcinogenesis

Cancer, the second leading cause of death, is a heterogeneous group of over 100 diseases. It is characterized by disordered and deregulated cellular and stromal proliferation accompanied by reduced cell death. At the molecular level, cancer is a genetic disease that develops due to the accumulation of mutations over time in somatic cells.This book is a concise, up-to-date introduction to the molecular basis of carcinogenesis. The author manages to present both the basic and the clinical areas while retaining a simple and concise style.Following an introduction to fundamental concepts related to the clonality of the tumors and the hypermutability of the cancer cells, he continues with a description of genes involved in the process of carcinogenesis and concludes with more complex phenomena of tumor biology, such as therole of the tumor stroma and the metastatic process. A whole section on specific topics includes pharmacogenomics and viral carcinogenesis. In addition, he describes human and animal models of the disease, emphasizing their advantages and their limitations, rounding off with unifying concepts, as well as ongoing and future perspectives. The book makes good use of simple graphs to underline the notions described in the text, a feature that particularly aids comprehension.With a foreword by Nobel laureate Andrew V. Schally.