The International Meeting on Brain Oncology in Rennes was organised in honor of Jean Pecker, to pay tribute to his contribution to the development of neurological sciences and to take stock of the current state of knowledge on brain tumors, a domain in which the role of neurosurgery has been and will continue to be primordial. During the two-day conference, the major themes of brain oncology studies, both fundamental and clinical, were examined: oncogenesis, tumoral markers and immunology, metabolic and diagnosis imaging, prognostic factors and therapeutic strategies. The large number and...

The dramatic improvement made in recent years in the treatment of child hood malignancies has been in large part the result of advances in the field of pharmacology. Chemotherapy is the major therapeutic modality used to treat childhood cancer. Rational administration of antineoplastic chemo therapy to the child with cancer requires the pediatric oncologist to have a thorough understanding of the fundamental principles of clinical pharmaco logy, an intimate knowledge of the specific agents being used, and an aware ness of the unique biologic and physiologic features of children. In mid 1985,...

Proceedings of a symposium presented at the University of Southern California, Department of Pathology and the Kenneth J. Norris Cancer Hospital and Research Institute, Los Angeles, U.S.A., November 16-17, 1984

J. G. MCVIE The impact of therapy on one subset of lung cancer, the "small cell" type has been significant and lasting. The reality of cure for even a fraction of patients with this disease has caused reverberations in the pathology lab where the responsibili. ' y and challenge of diagnosis of this vital sub group lies. No less dramatic has been the discovery that the cell types of lung cancer have recognisable growth characteristics in serum free culture, they are recognisable by patterns of markers and some produce growth factors which autoregulate their eventual fate. Many of the...

The objective of the treatment of acute leukemia involves the eradication of all neoplastic cells, including the last one. Ideally, treatment should be controlled by monitoring cell kill. If the last cells could be discovered and their biological properties be determined, the qualitative and quantitative effects of treatment should be directly evaluable. This should ultimately permit a calculated tumor cell reduction thereby avoiding overtreatment and excessive toxicity and thus providing a basis for individualized antileukemic treatment. In recent years several new developments have...

During the past four decades knowledge about biological effects of ionizing radiations on mammalian cells, normal tissues and tumours has increased enormously and has enabled radiotherapists to obtain a better insight into the advantages and disadvantages of cancer treatments with modified regimens of irradiations and combinations with chemotherapeutic agents. Even for the older scientists and clinicians who have wit nessed all these developments and have contributed to the vast amount of information, it is difficult to integrate this knowledge and to apply it in their daily work. For younger...

In recent years the pace of research in prostate cancer has increased dramatically. Creative ideas in combination with new and emerging technologies have led to an explosion of discovery. These types of advances in prostate cancer research presage an era of new treatment strategies based on an understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of disease.
In creating this book, we aimed to cover a broad "bench to bedside" research spectrum ranging from: genetic, molecular and cellular analyses to epidemiological studies, refinements in local treatment strategies and new biologically...

There is no doubt that the advent of immunocytochemical techniques, by enhancing our ability to detect specific cell products or markers, has opened new avenues in the understanding of human diseases, and in our ability to perform better diagnosis in surgical pathology. The rapid development of this field has resulted in thousands of publications in the literature regarding immunocytochemistry in diagnostic pathology. This explosion of knowledge makes necessary publications summarizing what are the main markers available and how they can be used in the diagnosis of tumors. The need of a more...

The methodology of drug development has been the subject of extensive dis- cussion by a relatively small group of individuals in industry and government who have been intimately concerned with the identification and study of new anticancer drugs. The Chemotherapy Program of the National Cancer In- stitute has represented the major focus of initial efforts in drug development, as summarized in the historical perspective presented in chapter 1 and its references. It is no coincidence that the Chemotherapy Program was the origin of the Division of Cancer Treatment, a government entity that has...