In Abnormal Chromosomes: The Past, Present, and Future of Cancer Cytogenetics, globally renowned researchers Drs. Sverre Heim and Felix Mitelman deliver a state-of-the-art review of how cancer cytogenetic analyses have contributed to an improved understanding of tumorigenesis as well as to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients. The book also discusses how cytogenetics - the study of chromosomes - meets, interacts with, and cross-fertilizes other investigative technologies, including molecular somatic cell genetics.
The book provides an impetus to think more deeply about the role chromosomes, and their abnormalities, play in health and disease, especially in neoplastic disorders. From which origins did cytogenetics develop? How did the finding of acquired chromosomal abnormalities in cells of leukemias and solid tumors influence our understanding of cancer as a biological process? How was information of this nature put to good use in the clinical management of cancer patients?
Abnormal Chromosomes: The Past, Present, and Future of Cancer Cytogenetics offers readers:
- A thorough introduction to ancient theories of disease, the advent of cellular pathology, and how a scientific interest in chromosomes developed
- Comprehensive exploration of the conceptual importance of Theodor Boveri and his somatic mutation theory of cancer
- A detailed chronological resume of cancer cytogenetic discoveries during the 20th century
- In-depth discussions of the role of chromosome abnormalities, oncogenes, and tumor suppressor genes in leukemias, lymphomas, and solid tumors, together with a survey of what chromosome analyses have revealed about the clonal evolution of neoplastic cell populations
- A discussion of the importance of pathogenetic classifications of neoplastic diseases, the role chromosome abnormalities play in this context, and which technological breakthroughs can be expected in chromosome-oriented cancer research
Table of Contents
Preface vii
Part I Past 1
Chapter 1 Understanding Disease: Ancient Theories 3
Chapter 2 The Advent of Cellular Pathology 7
Chapter 3 The Colored Bodies of Cell Nuclei: Chromosomes and Heredity 15
Chapter 4 Boveri and the Somatic Mutation Theory of Cancer 23
Chapter 5 Cytogenetics from 1914 to 1960: Slow Progress Followed by Serendipitous Methodological Breakthroughs Leading to Important Discoveries 29
Chapter 6 The First Cancer-Specific Chromosome Aberrations: Ph1 and Others 41
Part II Present 57
Chapter 7 The Banding Revolution: Cancer Cytogenetics in the 1970s 59
Chapter 8 Chasing Correlations: Chromosomes and Oncogenes in Leukemias and Lymphomas 75
Chapter 9 Solid Tumor Cytogenetics 87
Chapter 10 Gains, Losses, and Rearrangements of Genomic Material: Pathogenetic Considerations 105
Chapter 11 Morphology Meets Chemistry: Integration of Molecular Genetics into the Cytogenetic Search for Cancer-Specific Chromosome Aberrations 117
Chapter 12 Unraveling the Clonal Evolution of Neoplastic Cell Populations 125
Chapter 13 Clinical Usefulness 137
Part III Future 149
Chapter 14 Toward a Pathogenetic Classification of Cancer 151
Chapter 15 Where There is Structure, There is Function 161
Chapter 16 Which Resolution Level is Optimally Suited to
Answer Which Questions? Seeing Never Goes Out of Fashion . . . 169
Chapter 17 Are New Technical Breakthroughs on the Horizon? 179
Afterthoughts 189
Index 195
