Noninvasive Molecular Markers in Gynecologic Cancers PDF

Preface

Cancers that affect women's reproductive organs are collectively referred to as gynecologic cancers and are named according to the part of the body that is affected. Ovarian, cervical, uterine, vaginal, and vulvar cancers are the ve main cancers that constitute the group. However, fallopian tube cancer, which is very rare, can also be included in this group. According to various reports, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women after breast cancer, and cumulatively both these cancers contribute over 40% of cancerspeci c deaths in women worldwide, whereas ovarian and uterine cancers cause 10%–15% of all cancer-associated deaths. From this, we can conclude that gynecologic cancers along with breast cancer contribute to more than 50% of all cancer-associated deaths in women.

Early detection is critical for any given cancer. With the advent of the latest omics technologies, molecular markers in combination with conventional diagnostic and screening methods are emerging as next-generation early diagnostic and prognostic strategies that can allow early-stage diagnosis, resulting in more effective treatment and patient care and, in turn, increased rate of survival. The current trend in diagnosis is slowly shifting from invasive (tissue biopsy based) to minimally invasive or noninvasive (blood, serum, urine, and saliva) methods to avoid complications related to biopsy and other associated patient discomforts. Furthermore, obtaining samples noninvasively is easy and less time consuming. Moreover, molecular markers obtained noninvasively that are currently in use or under development show better sensitivity and specicity as compared to conventional markers obtained through biopsy.

Although there are several books available on various aspects of gynecologic cancers, none have documented the noninvasive molecular biomarkers that are under development or precisely used for screening, early diagnosis, prognosis, and/or therapy for cancers in female reproductive organs. This book, Noninvasive Molecular Markers in Gynecologic Cancers, is the rst of its kind to ll this gap and to provide a ready-made resource that not only provides information on noninvasive molecular diagnostic biomarkers for gynecological cancers but also accounts for the epidemiology, clinical features, conventional diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis for these cancers. Each of these cancer types has unique signs and symptoms, risk factors, and molecular prole, and therefore requires different prevention strategies. A common factor in all of these cancers is risk, which increases with age and in some cases is associated with genetic predisposition or heritability. Different features of each cancer are explained in detail in dedicated chapters, where general information, epidemiology, clinical features, and biomarkers are given. Breast cancer is also included in the spectrum of cancers specic to women to make this book more complete and benecial to the target audience: clinicians, oncologists, gynecologists, pathologists, radiologists, medical students, and researchers in biomarkers and targeted drug discovery.

Before the in-depth molecular investigation of gynecologic cancers, etiopathogenesis and clinics of these cancers should be known. To make the book more user-friendly, the 18 chapters are organized into six sections. In Section I, general topics are discussed. InChapter 1, Dr. Kaygusuz and colleagues present an overview of gynecologic cancer in a compact but comprehensive way. In Chapter 2, Dr. Oznur's group gives a detailed account on early cytogenetic markers for gynecologic cancers.

Section II deals with breast cancer and includes Chapters 3 through 6. In this section, breast cancer biomarkers are investigated from different aspects. In Chapter 3, early molecular biomarkers in breast cancer are presented by Dr. Kaul-Ghanekar et al. Dr. Calomarde's group has specically described clinical and molecular diagnostic and prognostic markers for invasive breast cancer in Chapter 4. Dr. Yılmaz and colleagues, in Chapter 5, have provided details on biomarkers in familial breast cancer. In the last chapter in this section, Chapter6, Dr. Hasan's group summarizes the epigenetics of breast cancer and the inuence of nutrients for methylation on this cancer.

In Section III, Chapters 7 through 9 deal with cervical cancer. Dr. Kaul-Ghanekar et al. provide a detailed account from the epidemiology to molecular markers of cervical cancer. In Chapter 8, Dr. Serrano's group presents the possible use of HPV, p16, Ki-67, and E6/E7 markers in cervical cancer. In Chapter 9, Dr. Kunos et al. summarize the biomarkers of nucleotide metabolism in cervical cancer.

In Section IV, Chapters 10 through 13, ovarian cancer is investigated from various aspects. In Chapter 10, Dr. O'Toole's group comprehensively presents various noninvasive early biomarkers in ovarian cancer. Dr. Oznur et al. have discussed biomarkers for ovarian endometrioid carcinoma in Chapter 11. In Chapters 12 and 13, two important biomarkers (CA125 and He4) in ovarian cancer are discussed by Dr. Bouanene et al. and Dr. Abehsera et al., respectively.

Section V, Chapters 14 through 16, discusses uterine and fallopian tube cancers. In Chapter 14, Dr. Nas and colleagues present molecular biomarkers for endometrial cancer, and in Chapter 15, Dr. Buery and Dr. Gunduz summarize biomarkers in uterine mesenchymal tumors. Chapter 16 by Dr. Peitsidis gives a detailed account on various aspects of fallopian tube carcinoma, including noninvasive early markers.

Finally, in Section VI, Dr. Ocak et al. and Dr. Iacoponi et al. describe noninvasive early markers associated with vaginal (Chapter 17) and vulvar (Chapter 18) cancer, respectively.

Leading international experts have authored these topics and each chapter is organized with a uniform structure: outline, abstract, detailed information for each title under outline, future perspectives, and references. A sufcient number of illustrations are included to support each topic. This basic structure makes understanding the topics easier. Almost all of the knowledge about all gynecological cancers and their biomarkers has been covered in this book We do hope this book will be a useful resource and a reliable and valuable reference on gynecological cancers that will help physicians manage early detection of any given gynecologic cancer and will motivate further research to nd more noninvasive biomarkers. We also highly appreciate our readers' valuable comments on further improvements to the contents