Cancerremainstobeoneofthemostdevastatingdiseasesworldwidesincelong ago.
Thepoorprognosisofcancerislargelyduetometastasis. Metastasisisoften depictedasamultistageprocessinwhichmalignantcellsspreadfromtheprimary locustodistantorgansviacirculation.
Whereasgeneticalterationsweresuggested tobeessentialfortransformationofprimarytumorcellsintometastaticphenotype, epigeneticeventsareequallyimportant,whichmaybetriggeredbymetastaticf- torswhereverintheprimarytumorlocus,bloodcirculationandthesecondaryloci.
Signaltransductionsinitiatedbythemetastaticfactorsareresponsibleformediating themolecularandcellularprocessesleadingtometastasis.
Blockadeoftherelevant molecularpathwaysisoneofthemosteffectivestrategiesforpreventionoftumor metastasis.
Clinicaltrialsareunderwaywithpromisingoutcome. Inthisbook, wetakecomprehensive review inregard withthisexciting eld ofcancerresearch.
Chapter1takesabriefoverviewofrecentlyidenti edsignal mechanismsforeachstepoftumormetastasisincludingtheinitiationstage,intra- sation,anti-anoikisinbloodcirculation,homing,extravasationand nalsurvivalin themetastaticsite.
Chapter2makesacompletedreviewforthemolecularandcel- lareventsinvolvedininitiationofmetastasis. Especially,thesignalingmechanisms formediatingtumorprogressioninducedbysomeimportantmetastaticfactorsare described.
InChapters3and4,thecentralrolesofMAPKanditsdownstreameff- torsMAPKAPKplayineachstepoftumormetastasisarewelldelineated.
Chapter5 furtherdescribesdetailedlyabouthowGrb2andotheradaptorproteins,upstreamof MAPK cascade, contribute tometastasis.
InChapter 6, therole ofreactive o- genspecies(ROS)intumorprogressionarehighlighted.
Moreover,thepotential contribution of ROS to cross talk between major signaling cascades that lead to sustainedMAPKactivationareproposedinChapter7.
Chapter8takesaninsight intothesignalingmechanismsfordynamictraf ckingandturnoveroffocalad- sionproteinsinregulationoftractionandretractionforces,whichareneededfor celllocomotionandinvasion.
Chapter9describestheinvolvementofNotchsign- ingpathwaywhichisnotonlyessentialforembryonicdevelopmentbutalsoplays importantroleintumorprogression.
Chapter10reviewedtherecentlyidenti ed cancer- and metastasis-initiating cells involved in tumor progression.
Especially, signal pathways that are frequently deregulated in cancer stem/progenitor cells v vi Preface duringcancerprogressionarehighlighted. Chapter11describestheroleoflipid rafts, a special component within membrane lipid domain, in signal transd- tion triggered by growth factor receptors leading to tumor metastasis.
Finally, Chapters12,Chapters13,andChapters14presentthesignalingpathwaysresp- sibleformetastaticprogressionofspeci ctumorsincludingovariancancer,uveal melanomaandhepatoma,respectively.
WethankallthecontributorsofeveryChapterinthebookincludingJia-RuWu, Chi-TanHu,LaureVoisin,StephanieDuhamel,SylvainMeloche,AlexeyShiryaev, MarijkeVanGhelue,UgoMoens,AlessioGiubellino,PraveenR.
Arany,Moulay A. Alaoui-Jamali, Krikor Bijian, Panagiota Toliopoulos, Pingyu Zhang, Patrick A.
Zweidler-McKay,MurielleMimeault,SurinderK. Batra,SamirKumarPatra, LydiaW. T. Cheung,CarmanK. M. Ip,AliceS. T. Wong,CecileLaurent,Jerome Couturier,XavierSastre-Garau,LaurenceDesjardins,EmmanuelBarillot,Sophie Piperno-Neumann,SimonSauleandRajagopalN.
Aravalli. Wehopethisbookmightstimulatemorecancerbiologiststoemphasizethis eld whichbene tsdevisingmoreeffectivemoleculartargetingstrategiesforprevention ofcancermetastasis.
Hualien,Taiwan Wen-ShengWu Chi-TanHu Contents 1 Overview of Signal Transduction in Tumor Metastasis...1Wen-ShengWuandJia-RuWu 2 Microenvironment Triggers EMT, Migration and Invasion of Primary Tumor via Multiple Signal Pathways ...9 Wen-ShengWuandChi-TanHu 3 The ERK1/2 MAP Kinase Signaling Pathway in Tumor Progression and Metastasis ...25 LaureVoisin,StephanieDuhamel,andSylvainMeloche 4 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase-Activated Protein Kinases and Metastasis...41 AlexeyShiryaev,MarijkeVanGhelue,andUgoMoens 5 Grb2 and Other Adaptor Proteins in Tumor Metastasis ...77 AlessioGiubellinoandPraveenR.
Arany 6 The Role of ROS Signaling in Tumor Progression...103 Wen-ShengWuandJia-RuWu 7 Signal Cross Talks for Sustained MAPK Activation and Cell Migration Mediated by Reactive Oxygen Species: The Involvement in Tumor Progression...
