Gene Regulation and Therapeutics for Cancer

Differential gene regulation and targeted therapy are the critical aspects of several cancers. This book covers specific gene regulation and targeted therapies in different malignancies. It offers a comprehensive assessment of the transcriptional dysregulation in cancer, and considers some examples of transcriptional regulators as definitive oncogenic drivers in solid tumors, followed by a brief discussion of transcriptional effectors of the programs they drive, and discusses its specific targets. Most targeted therapeutics developed to date have been directed against a limited set of oncogenic drivers, exemplified by those encoding cell surface or cytoplasmic kinases that function in intracellular signaling cascades.

Surinder K. Batra is a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Batra studies the functions of mucins in the progression of different malignancies. His recent studies demonstrated the molecular mechanism for the progression and metastasis of multiple cancers. His investigations led to developing several targeted therapies for different tumors. Based on his mechanistic and translational studies, different targets entered into Phase I/II trials for various cancers.

Moorthy P. Ponnusamy is an Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Nebraska Medical Centre. Dr. Ponnusamy’s research background reflects a keen interest in understanding the molecular mechanisms of cancer stem cell-mediated progression and metastatis of pancreatic cancer. His recent studies discovered the specific mechanism for pancreatic cancer stem cell maintenance and its impact on metastatis. He is developing small molecules to target cancer stem cell populations.