Molecular Diagnostics and Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer: Systems and Network Biology Approaches

Molecular Diagnostics and Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer describes the different emerging applications of systems biology and how it is shaping modern pancreatic cancer research. This book begins by introducing the current state of the art knowledge, trends in diagnostics, progress in disease model systems as well as new treatment and palliative care strategies in pancreatic cancer. Specific sections are dedicated to enlighten the readers to newer discoveries that have emerged from gene expression profiling, proteomics, metabolomics and systems level analyses of pancreatic cancer datasets. First of a kind and novel network strategies to understand oncogenic Kras signaling in pancreatic tumors are presented. The attempts to computationally model and prioritize microRNAs that cause pancreatic cancer resistance are also highlighted.Addressing this important area, Molecular Diagnostics and Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer provides insights into important network evaluation methodologies related to pancreatic cancer related microRNAs targetome. There are dedicated chapters on critical aspects of the evolving yet controversial field of pancreatic cancer stems cells. The work concludes by discussing the applications of network sciences in pancreatic cancer drug discovery and clinical trial design.- Encompasses discussion of innovative tools including expression signatures in cell lines, 3D models, animal xenograft models, primary models and patient derived samples, aiding subversion of traditional biology paradigms, and enhancing comprehension across conventional length and temporal scales- Coverage includes novel applications in targeted drugs, polypharmacology, network pharmacology and other related drug development arenas – helping researchers in pancreatic cancer drug discovery- Summarizes many relevant computational and clinical references from fast-evolving literature- Comprehensive glossary helps newer readers understand technical terms and specialized nomenclature

About the Author

Asfar Azmi, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Oncology, Wayne State University. He has more than a decade of research experience in the area of cancer biology and drug discovery. Dr. Azmi's lab has made significant pre-clinical discoveries in advanced animal tumor models that helped the clinical development of new cancer drugs. Dr. Azmi has considerable experience in the area of early phase clinical research. Several agents developed by his team have gone into Phase II clinical studies. He has published more than 100 cancer research articles and has edited three additional books, among which there are the Elsevier publications Molecular Diagnostics and Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer as well as Conquering Ras. He is the recipient of numerous young investigator awards from premier scientific bodies. The National Institute of Health and pharmaceutical industry have continuously funded his lab.