Cancer is the second most devastating disease in the United States behind heart disease, and remains a major health and societal problem. Treatment of cancer (especially metastatic cancer) has traditionally focused on chemotherapy which acts on a broad range of pathways involved in cell proliferation and DNA synthesis. Unfortunately, due to the heterogeneity of cancer, creating a single cure-all therapeutic agent seems to be highly unlikely. The main reasons for the failure of most anti-cancer therapies are an incomplete understanding of the biology involved in cancer cell growth and metastasis, and the inability to detect certain cancer types early enough to allow effective treatment. The last decade witnessed the completion of the Human Genome Project and the kickoff of personalized genomic medicine. The influx of the enormous genomic information regarding the various oncogenes, pathways, and signals involved in each individual cancer type has pointed researchers towards the strategy of targeted molecular therapy, which not only reduces systemic toxicity, but also more effectively tailors the treatment for each individual patient. The basic and translational research of three major cancers, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, and brain cancer presented in this special issue focuses on the early detection, molecular imaging, and novel therapies. This special issue hopes to provide an abridged summation of the recent advancements in the fundamental understanding of the biocellular mechanisms which may hold the future standard of treatment for this terrible disease.
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