Bone Metastasis (Cancer Drug Discovery and Development)

A state-of-the-art review of the molecular underpinnings of bone-seeking cancers, current treatment approaches for them, and future therapeutic strategies. The authors illuminate the role of various autocrine, paracrine, and immunological factors involved in the progression and establishment of bone metastases, highlighting the physiological processes that lead to bone degradation, pain, angiogenesis, and dysregulation of bone turnover. They also discuss the various strategies that appear to have promise and are currently deployed in treatment or are at the experimental stage.

Bone metastasis occurs in 60 to 85% of all breast, prostate, and lung cancer patients and is responsible for increasing morbidity. In Bone Metastasis: Experimental and Clinical Therapeutics, leading bone metastasis experts from around the world explain the molecular underpinnings of the process, review current treatment approaches, and outline future therapeutic strategies. On the basic science side, the authors illuminate the role of various autocrine, paracrine, and immunological factors involved in the progression and establishment of bone metastases, highlighting the physiological processes that lead to bone degradation, pain, angiogenesis, and dysregulation of bone turnover. On the therapeutic side, the authors discuss various strategies that appear to have promise and are currently deployed in treatment or at the experimental stage. They show how the treatment of bone metastases may need to be individualized through a combination of surgical, radiation, and/or pharmacological maneuvers. Their analysis of various pharmacogenomic parameters and tissue environmental factors sets the stage for progress beyond the current standards of using radiation and/or bisphosphonates for palliation.
State-of-the-art and innovative, Bone Metastasis: Experimental and Clinical Therapeutics elucidates for all those involved-whether in research or clinical treatment of bone-seeking cancers-the biological processes and therapeutic advances that are already generating significant improvement in the cancer clinic.