Cancer biology: Some causes for a variety of different diseases

Abstract

Advances and integration of biochemistry, cell biology, molecular biology, and genetics have led to a better fundamental understanding of cancer biology and the causes for many types of cancer. Cancer is now thought to originate following either the cancer stem cell hypothesis or the stochastic clonal model. The pathways that lead to cancer have been delineated genetically and epigenetically. In addition, posttranslational players such as miRNA are now known to have a significant role in cancer diagnosis. To meet the high demands of rapidly proliferating cancer cells, alterations of nutrient and metabolic pathways are required. Accordingly, tumor physiology and the cancer microenvironment have been extensively studied due to their significant role in malignancy. This chapter will discuss these topics and provide a detailed investigation of cancer biology including identification of many of the genes, proteins, signals, and other factors involved in tumorigenesis.