Biomarkers of the Tumor Microenvironment

This book reviews different aspects of the cancer microenvironment, and its regulation and importance for tumor progression. Methodological advancements and practical applications, in terms of how biomarkers are studied and increasingly included in clinical trials and therapy protocols, are described and discussed.

Biomarkers of the Tumor Microenvironment is an educational resource for students and members of the cancer research community as a whole, especially for those using morphology analysis techniques and models focusing on the cross-talk between different cell types in tumors. The textbook provides a comprehensive overview of the microenvironment in various contexts from the perspectives of experienced and accomplished cancer researchers and clinicians.

Lars A. Akslen is a professor of medicine (tumor pathology) at the University of Bergen (Bergen, Norway), a senior consultant in surgical pathology at Haukeland University Hospital, and a director of the Centre for Cancer Biomarkers CCBIO, a Norwegian Center of Excellence. Dr. Akslen is working on biomarkers of the tumor microenvironment and how these can be defined and reported on tissue specimens from human cancers, in particular breast tumors. Angiogenesis and immune responses represent the main areas of interest.

Randolph S. Watnick is a trained molecular biologist and is currently a research associate at the Vascular Biology Program, Boston Children´s Hospital (Boston, USA), and an assistant professor at the Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School. After receiving his Ph.D., Dr. Watnick continued his training as a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Weinberg at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. Dr.Watnick is now working on mechanisms of how the tumor microenvironment promotes cancer progression, with particular focus on roles of the immune system and vascular structures.