Main description:

The aim of this book is to reveal to a large spectrum of audience including biologists and physicians the extent of the microRNAs revolution in the cancer society. Alterations in miRNA genes play a critical role in the pathophysiology of many, perhaps all, human cancer: cancer initiation and progression can involve microRNAs (miRNAs) - small non-coding RNAs that can regulate gene expression. At the present time, the main mechanism of microRNAs alteration in cancer cells seems to be represented by aberrant gene expression, characterized by abnormal levels of expression for mature and/or precursor miRNA sequences in comparison with the corresponding normal tissues. Loss or amplification of miRNA genes has been reported in a variety of cancers and altered patterns of miRNA expression may affect cell cycle and survival programs. Germline and somatic mutations in miRNAs or polymorphisms in the mRNAs targeted by miRNAs may also contribute to cancer predisposition and progression. The causes of the widespread differential expression of miRNA genes between malignant and normal cells can be explained by the genomic location of these genes in cancer-associated genomic regions, by epigenetic mechanisms as well as by alterations of members of the processing machinery. MicroRNAs expression profiling has been exploited to identify miRNAs that are potentially involved in the pathogenesis of human cancers. MicroRNAs profiling achieved by various methods has allowed the identification of signatures associated with diagnosis, staging, progression, prognosis and response to treatment of human tumors.

The book will be structured in the following way. A leader in the field, preferably the scientist who first described the specific findings, will write each chapter. We will encourage the senior author to write the chapter in collaboration with at least one colleague that actively participate in the main discoveries. As the field of miRNA is very competitive and challenging, for each chapter we propose also a second name as putative senior author if the first selected one will not be able to positively respond to our request. Furthermore, we propose an extended number of chapters (18), that can be reduced or extended after the count of final positive replays.

Feature:

Each chapter will be no longer as 12 to 15 book pages and will include at least four figures or combination table(s) and figure(s) (making the total number of pages around 270). In this way, it will be easier for the reader to deal with the new concepts included in this book. The book will be structured in two main parts: the first one will describe fundamental aspects of miRNA involvement in human cancers, such as roles as oncogenes and tumor suppressors. The second will deal with more medical issues and will be organized by site of specific cancer. and will include a box named "Laboratory Science Meets Clinical Practice" in which the main clinical, diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic applications of the miRNAs involvement in that specific type of cancer will be highlighted.

Contents:

PART 1. BASIC CONCEPTS OF MICRO-RNA INVOLVEMENT IN HUMAN CANCERS

1. A MICRORNA PRIMER

Victor Ambros, Dartmouth Medical School, Department of Genetics, Hanover, New Hamphsire 03755, USA.

OR

Ruvkun Gary, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School and Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.

2. MICRORNAS AND CANCER - AN OVERWIEW

Carlo Croce, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Human Cancer Genetics Program and Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology, and Medical Genetics, OSU School of Medicine, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.

3. MICRORNAS AS TUMOR SUPPRESSORS

Frank Slack, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.

OR

Joshua Mendell, The McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.

4. MICRORNAS AS ONCOGENES

Reuven Agami, Division of Tumor Biology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

or

Joshua Mendell , The McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.

5. MECHANISMS OF MICRORNA DISREGULATION IN HUMAN CANCERS

George Koukos, Center for Research on Reproduction and Women's Health, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.

OR

Peter A Jones, Department of Urology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.

6. MICRORNA QUANTIFICATION IN HUMAN CANCERS

Thomas Schmittgen, College of Pharmacy, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.

OR

Chang-gong Liu, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA

7. MICE MODELS FOR MICRORNA INVOLMENT IN HUMAN CANCERS

Michael McManus, UCSF Diabetes Center, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, California 94122-0534, USA.

OR

Hammond SM., Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.

8. TARGETS OF CANCER SPECIFIC MICRORNAS

Hatzigeorgiou AG., Center for Bioinformatics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. megraw@mail.med.upenn.edu

OR

Rajewsky N., Center for Comparative Functional Genomics, Department of Biology, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA.

9. ULTRACONSERVED GENES AND MICRORNAS: THE CANCER CONNNECTION

George Calin, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Human Cancer Genetics Program and Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology, and Medical Genetics, OSU School of Medicine, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.

10. THERAPEUTIC IMPLICATIONS OF MICRORNAS INVOLVEMENT IN HUMAN CANCERS

Stoffel M., Laboratory of Metabolic Diseases, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10021, USA.

OR

Greg Hannon, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Watson School of Biological Sciences and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 1 Bungtown Road, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724, USA.

PART 2. MICRORNAS INVOLVEMENT IN SPECIFIC CANCERS

11. MICRORNAS IN LUNG CANCERS

Harris CC, Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis, Center for Cancer Research, NCI, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.

OR

Takahashi T, Division of Molecular Oncology, Aichi Cancer Center Research Institute, Nagoya, Japan.

12. MICRORNAS IN BREAST CANCER

Massimo Negrini, Department of Experimental and Diagnostic Medicine, Section of Microbiology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

13. MICRORNAS IN COLON CANCERS

Velculescu VE, The Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetics and Therapeutics, Johns Hopkins University Kimmel Cancer Center, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.

OR

Michael Z. Michael, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Flinders Medical Center, Flinders University School of Medicine, Bedford Park, Australia.

14. MICRORNAS IN THYROID CANCERS

Albert de la Chapelle, Human Cancer Genetics Program, Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

OR

Charis Eng, Genomic Medicine Institute, Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, 9500 Euclid Avenue, NE-50, Cleveland, Ohio 44195, USA.

15. MICRORNAS IN NEUROLOGICAL CANCERS

Kenneth Kosik, Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.

OR

Farace MG, Department of Experimental Medicine and Biochemical Sciences, University of Rome "Tor Vergata," Roma, Italy

16. MICRORNAS IN PANCREATIC CANCERS

Aldo Scarpa, Department of Pathology, University of Verona, Italy

OR

David Z. Chang, Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center,

17. MICRORNAS IN LYMPHOMAS

James E. Dahlberg, Department of Biomolecular Chemistry, University of Wisconsin Medical School, 1300 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706

OR

Anke van den Berg, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Groningen University Medical Center, The Netherlands.

18. MICRORNAS IN LEUKEMIAS

Chang-Zheng Chen, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Baxter Laboratory of Genetic Pharmacology, Institute for Cancer/Stem Cell Biology and Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif, USA.

OR

Michael Andreef, Section of Molecular Hematology and Therapy, Department of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapeutics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030-4095, USA.