Completely revised and expanded, this second edition of The Cytokine FactsBook is the most up-to-date reference manual available for all current well-characterized interleukins, cytokines, and their receptors. An additional 52 cytokines are included, doubling the number of entries from the previous edition. The key properties of each cytokine are described and presented in a very accessible format with diagrams for each of the receptors. The Cytokine FactsBook includes free online access t...

The fourth edition of The Immunoassay Handbook provides an excellent, thoroughly updated guide to the science, technology and applications of ELISA and other immunoassays, including a wealth of practical advice. It encompasses a wide range of methods and gives an insight into the latest developments and applications in clinical and veterinary practice and in pharmaceutical and life science research. Highly illustrated and clearly written, this award-winning reference work provides an excel...

The existence of ‘cancer stem cells’ (CSCs) has been a topic of heated debate for the last few years within the field of cancer biology. Their continuous characterization in a variety of solid tumors has lead to an abundance of evidence supporting their existence. CSCs are believed to be responsible for resistance against conventional treatment regimes of chemotherapy and radiation, ultimately, leading to metastasis and patient demise. To help aid clinicians, pharmaceutical companies and a...

“Nerve-Driven Immunity: Neurotransmitters and Neuropeptides in the Immune System” summarizes, analyzes and sheds new light on an unrecognized, yet very important role of key neurotransmitters and neuropeptides in the immune system.Each chapter of the book deals with a different neurotransmitter/neuropeptide from the following list: Dopamine, Adrenaline, Noradrenaline, Acetylcholine, Glutamate, GABA, Somatostatin, Neuropeptide Y (NPY), Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), Calcito...

At the moment, there is no dedicated book to summarize the roles, the significance, and potential therapeutic targeting of transcriptional factors from the perspective of signaling cascade, and thus, directly impacting the functionality of transcriptional factors in cancer. In addition, this book will offer a comprehensive basic and clinical science behind the functions of representative core transcriptional factors. These chapters will serve as a treasure for all those who have an interes...

Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), is the most common form of leukemia in adults. AML is a deadly form of malignancy, the prognosis for which has not improved in the last two decades. More importantly, it is a malignancy that is seen in older adults, therefore the number of cases is likely to rise as the population ages. Over the past 15 years, genetic mechanisms underlying AML have begun to unfold. Additional research in this area has helped identify key components and characteristics. Con...

With the explosion of information on autophagy in cancer, this is an opportune time to speed the efforts to translate our current knowledge about autophagy regulation into better understanding of its role in cancer. This book will cover the latest advances in this area from the basics, such as the molecular machinery for autophagy induction and regulation, up to the current areas of interest such as modulation of autophagy and drug discovery for cancer prevention and treatment. The text wi...

Post-translational modifications serve many different purposes in several cellular processes such as gene expression, protein folding and transport to appropriate cell compartment, protein-lipid and protein-protein interactions, enzyme regulation, signal transduction, cell proliferation and differentiation, protein stability, recycling and degradation. Although several-hundred different modifications are known, the significance of many of them remains unknown. The enormous versatility of t...

This book describes the role of heat shock proteins in the life cycle of malaria parasites. The work includes a general introduction on the structural and functional features of heat shock proteins. The main focus is on the role of heat shock protein families from Plasmodium falciparum, their role in protein folding and in the development of malaria pathology. The functions of individual families of heat shock proteins from plasmodium species and their cooperation in functional networks is...

This book provides an overview of critical components of cell signaling machinery and its role in epithelial morphogenesis, proliferation, invasions and angiogenesis in human cancer and discusses novel types of protein kinase pathways.

PI3K has become a very intense area of research, with over 2000 publications on PI3K in PubMed for 2009 alone. The expectations for a therapeutic impact of intervention with PI3K activity are high, and progress in the clinical arena is being monitored by many. However, targeted therapies almost invariably encounter roadblocks, often exposing unresolved questions in the basic understanding of the target