Main description:

Exciting new developments and discoveries of the last two decades are beginning to shed light on the complex biology of brain tumors and are advancing our understa- ing of the cellular and molecular processes involved in their initiation, progression, and clinical and biological behavior. The disease process in brain tumors is quite complex and the resulting tumors are characterized by a high degree of biological and clinical diversity. Thus, despite the advances of the last two decades, prognosis for patients with malignant brain tumors remains abysmal. Significant progress in the diagnosis, treatment and, ultimately, prevention of these tumors will require both the timely h- nessing of the advances in basic and clinical brain tumor research, and a continuing concerted effort at increasing our understanding of brain tumor biology, in particular, the molecular genetic changes and perturbations of cellular pathways involved in brain oncogenesis and which drive the biological and clinical behavior of the tumors. Brain tumor diagnosis and prognosis, which is still largely based on histopathology and other clinical criteria, will, in the future, acquire a significant molecular component, with the incorporation of knowledge of genes that are mutated, over-expressed, deleted, silenced, or functionally altered in the tumors. Treatment strategies for brain tumors, rather than being empirical, will be rationally developed based on an understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms and targets that have been activated, suppressed, or otherwise altered.

Contents:

Part I: Epidemiology, Biology, Genetics, and Pathology

Epidemiology of Brain Tumors
Randa El-Zein, Melissa Bondy, and Margaret Wrensch

Molecular Genetics of Tumors of the Central Nervous System
C. David James

Molecular Pathology of Nervous System Tumors
Catherine L. Nutt, Anat O. Stemmer-Rachamimov, J. Gregory Cairncross, and David N. Louis

Genetic Modeling of Glioma Formation in Mice
Martin Begemann, Vinagolu K. Rajasekhar, Gregory N. Fuller, and Eric C. Holland

Biology of Brain Metastasis
Minsoo Kang, Takamitsu Fujimaki, Seiji Yano, and Isaiah J. Fidler

Analysis of Neural Precursor Cells in the Context of Origin of Brain Tumors, Their Treatment, and Repair of Treatment-Associated Damage
Mark Noble and Joerg Dietrich

Biology of Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumors
John R. Hill, Shoichiro Ohta, and Mark A. Israel

Part II: Mechanisms and Pathways

Molecular and Cellular Biology of the Blood-Brain Barrier and Its Characteristics in Brain Tumors
Helga E. de Vries, Lisette Montagne, Christine D. Dijkstra, and Paul van der Valk

Immune Regulation in the Brain: Lessons From Autoimmunity and Implications for Brain Tumor Therapy
Lois A. Lampson

Genetic Pathways in the Evolution of Gliomas
Hiroko Ohgaki and Paul Kleihues

DNA Damage and Repair in the Therapeutic Response of Tumors of the Central Nervous System
Henry S. Friedman, M. Eileen Dolan, and Francis Ali-Osman

Role of Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator Receptor in Human Glioma Invasion
Sanjeeva Mohanam and Jasti S. Rao

Regulation of Cell Cycle and Apoptosis in Human Brain Tumors
Juan Fueyo, Candelaria Gomez-Manzano, and Timothy J. McDonnell

Part III: Therapeutics

Systemic Chemotherapy for Metastatic Tumors of the Central Nervous System
Charles A. Conrad and W. K. Alfred Yung

Radiation Biology and Therapy of Tumors of the Central Nervous System
Nalin Gupta, John R. Fike, Penny K. Sneed, Philip J. Tofilon, and Dennis F. Deen

Advances in the Management of Cerebral Metastases
Fadi Hanbali and Raymond Sawaya

Immunotherapy of Central Nervous System Tumors: Contemporary Cancer Research
Amy B. Heimberger, David A. Reardon, Darell D. Bigner, and John H. Sampson

Targeting Drugs to Tumors of the Central Nervous System
Maciej S. Lesniak, James Frazier, and Henry Brem

Rational Design and Development of Targeted Brain Tumor Therapeutics
Francis Ali-Osman, Henry S. Friedman, Gamil R. Antoun, David Reardon, Darell D. Bigner, and John K. Buolamwini

Index