Publisher's Synopsis
In this volume, Drs. Rosenthal and Rotman have assembled a series of chapters authored by well recognized experts, with a unifying theme of exploring the scientific basis of chemotherapy and irradiation therapy. Clinical significant synergistic therapeutic interactions between chemotherapy and irradiation therapy are highlighted. The reader is provided with a concise and readily understandable overview of the theoretical and experimental basis for irradiation-chemotherapy interactions in the first chapter, co-authored by the editors. Subsequent chapters carefully address the pharmacokinetics of radiosensitizing agents, and explore the optimization of schedules for infusional therapy with concomitant radiation. Highlights of this volume include several chapters which provide useful overviews of the newest and most promising molecular approaches to cancer treatment: apoptosis as a target of therapeutic development; use of antiangiogenesis agents in cancer treatment; gene therapy and its applications to chemo-radiation therapy of cancer; and tumor suppression gene inactivation by SV40 mediated transformation.