Molecular Carcinogenesis and the Molecular Biology of Human Cancer PDF

Preface

There is a strong need for a basic graduate textbook in molecular carcinogenesis. Dr. David Warshawsky has taught a comprehensive course in chemical carcinogenesis at the College of Medicine in the University of Cincinnati (UC) for many years. The colleagues of Dr. Warshawsky from UC who contributed to this textbook include Drs. Glenn Talaska (carcinogen biomarkers), George Leikauf and Jay Tichelaar (lung cancer), Mario Medvedovic (bioinformatics), Susan Heffelfinger (breast cancer), Zalfa Abdel-Malik (skin cancer) and Eula Bingham (carcinogen regulation). Hence, this book is the result of a strong USC–UC collaboration of Dr. Joseph Landolph, Jr. and Dr. Warshawsky and the colleagues of Professor Melvin Calvin at the University of California at Berkeley (Dr. Andrew Salmon) and in the laboratory of Professor Charles Heidelberger at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (Dr. Steven Nesnow). Colleagues of Dr. Landolph recruited from USC who have also contributed to this textbook are Drs. James Ou (Hepatitis B virus), Colin Hill (radiation carcinogenesis), and Nouri Neamati (proteomics). We have, in addition, recruited many experts and their collaborators from many other universities, research institutes, and regulatory bodies: Dr. Ole Laerum and Johan R. Lillehaug (cancer of the brain), University of Bergen; Dr. Dan Djakiew (prostate cancer), Georgetown University; Dr. Helmut Zarbl (oncogenes), Fred Hutchinson, Cancer Research Center; Dr. Bernard Weissman (tumor suppressor genes), University of North Carolina; Dr.Wynshaw-Boris (transgenic and knockout mice in carcinogenesis), University of California at San Diego; Dr. Jeff Ross (carcinogen DNA adducts), USEPA; and Dr. Gary Stoner (chemoprevention), Ohio State University.

Dr. Landolph has taught a similar course on chemical carcinogenesis at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) since 1982. Part I covers the basic science of cancer and includes lectures on cancer pathology, the epidemiology of cancer, stress responses, DNA methylation and cancer, oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, DNA repair, chemical mutation, chemical carcinogenesis, viral carcinogenesis, and radiation carcinogenesis. Part II covers cancers of various organ systems and some treatments for these cancers, including breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, bladder cancer, colon cancer, leukemia, cancer immunology and immunotherapy, and gene therapy of cancer.

The collaborations between Dr. Landolph and Dr. Warshawsky go back to l973, and have led directly to the writing of this book. They first met when Dr. Landolph was a graduate student (l971–l976), and Dr. Warshawsky was a postdoctoral fellow (1973–l976), in the chemical biodynamics laboratory of Professor Melvin Calvin at the University of California at Berkeley, California. Dr. Warshawsky received training in chemical carcinogenesis from Professors Calvin, Orchin, and Bingham. Similarly, Dr. Landolph received training from Professors Charles Heidelberger and Calvin

This book is divided into two parts, similar to the organization of the two courses at USC and UC in the molecular biology of cancer. Part I covers the basic science of cancer, including an historical overview of cancer and chemical carcinogenesis, chemical carcinogenesis, viral carcinogenesis, and radiation carcinogenesis, oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, and genomics and proteomics approaches to understanding the molecular nature of cancer. Part II covers an overview of human cancer induction and human exposure to carcinogens, complex mixtures of chemical carcinogens, and tumors of various human organs, including breast cancer, prostate cancer, skin cancer, cancer of the brain, and cancer of the thyroid. Part II continues with chemoprevention of chemical carcinogenesis and human cancer, exposure assessment and biomarkers, carcinogen risk assessment, and the regulation of carcinogens. Written by authors who are all experts in their chosen fields, this book should give the reader an overview of chemical, viral and radiation carcinogenesis, the carcinogenicity of complex mixtures and chemicals that cause human cancer, the proportional causes of human cancer, and the cell and molecular biology of specific important human tumors. This textbook is most appropriate for first and second year Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D. students and postdoctoral fellows and is suitable for either a one or two semester course. However, this book should also be useful to advanced undergraduate students, to scientists moving into cancer research from other areas, to scientists teaching graduate courses in cancer biology and molecular carcinogenesis, to regulatory scientists, and to attorneys practicing law in the area of toxic torts

We would like to thank two people without whom this book would not have been possible: Veronica Ratliff and Sireesha Kandula. Their collective skills were necessary to complete the book in a timely manner.

Dr.Warshawsky would like to thank his wife, Susan, and children Lisa and Bart, and Daniel and Deborah for their patience and understanding and insistence that this book be written to fill a need in molecular carcinogenesis. Dr. Landolph would like to thank his family, Alice and sons Joe III and Lewis, for their compassion and understanding in the writing of this book.