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For centuries, research has been conducted on the therapeutics of Brassicaceae plants and their health-promoting effects. Cato the Elder (234-149 BCE) documented their properties in his work De agri cultura and recommended using cabbage to compress wounds, swelling, burns, and bone dislocations. For arthritis, he recommended chopped raw cabbage mixed with coriander and cured cabbage mixed with vinegar and honey. In a groundbreaking discovery in the 1990s, scientists at Johns Hopkins University isolated sulforaphane from broccoli, revealing its potent anticancer properties. This naturally occurring compound has proven highly effective, safe, and tolerable and holds immense promise as a chemoprevention agent. It has the potential to combat various cancers, including breast, prostate, gastrointestinal, melanoma, lung, brain, and bladder. But its potential does not stop there. It also shows promise in treating cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases and diabetes, offering hope for those affected. The cancer-protecting properties of Brassica plants are mediated through compounds that induce a variety of physiological processes, including antioxidant action, detoxifying enzymes, inducing apoptosis, and cell cycle regulation. Glucosinolate breakdown products can affect several stages of cancer development, including the inhibition of activation enzymes (phase I) and the induction of detoxification enzymes (phase II). Isothiocyanates and indole products formed from glucosinolates regulate cancer cell development by regulating target enzymes, controlling apoptosis, inhibiting angiogenesis, metastasis, and the migration of cancer cells, and blocking the cell cycle. Sulforaphane, found in abundance in broccoli sprouts, plays a crucial role in upregulating the transcriptional activity of specific genes and restoring epigenetic alterations. This is particularly significant as it modifies epigenetic pathways by targeting histone deacetylases and DNA methyltransferases. These modifications, in turn, alter gene transcription and expression, particularly in the case of cancers. This intricate process of gene regulation is a fascinating study area, making broccoli sprouts a compelling component of the'epigenetic diet.'Sulforaphane induces the cytoprotective enzyme NQO1. The inducible expression of NQO1 is regulated principally through the Keap1-Nrf2-ARE signaling pathway. The activation of the Nrf2-Keap1 signaling pathway heralds the beneficial actions of drugs known to affect Nrf2 signaling, such as dimethyl fumarate, an FDA-approved treatment for multiple sclerosis, and bardoxolone methyl for chronic kidney disease. There is optimism that the overall strategies are moving forward. Sulforaphane-rich broccoli sprout extracts provide one avenue toward this end.

This book offers a systematic review of the cutting-edge knowledge in stress medicine. Cellular redox imbalance, resulting from overproduction of reactive oxide species (ROS), leads to oxidative stress and subsequent occurrence and development of many diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, pain, etc. In addition, ROS can induce post-translational modification of proteins and play roles through redox signaling pathways. In this book, the authors attempt to re-define the key concepts in oxidative stress, such as oxidative eustress and oxidative distress, revisit the pivotal signaling of oxidative stress in human diseases, and discuss the debate in current anti-oxidant strategies, such as natural products and drug repurposing. This book serves as a reference to graduate students and researchers in this growing field.

From the tissue culture dish to genetically modified mice, this volume explores the long recognized role of steroid hormones in regulating cell proliferation and differentiation. Many striking effects of steroid hormones are apparent during development and neoplasia and these topics are covered extensively. Several chapters address the pharmacological uses of steroid and related hormones, their analogs and antagonists in controlling growth of endocrine cancers. This book also highlights the complex role of cross talk between steroid hormones and signals initiated at the cell surface in the regulation of cell cycle in hormone responsive tissues.

A large proportion of cancers is preventable. External factors, discovered by epidemiological studies during the last 50 years, account for a majority of all cancer deaths. However, still rather little is known, about how environmental and genetic factors interact, how they may regulate gene activation etc. And it is a long way from the discovery of a basic regulatory mechanism to practical patient treatment. This volume describes the present state of the art in carcinogenesis, possibilities for cancer prevention, and gives genetic background in cancer development. Attention is given to the host-environment interaction, considering how this interaction may lead to cancer formation and how it can be utilised in cancer prevention. The molecular basis for cancer development and the molecular basis for prevention are described.

This book gathers the educational lectures and the texts of the main presenta­ tions given at the 4th International Congress on Anticancer Chemotherapy which took place in February 1993 in Paris and was attended by 5 000 oncologists from all continents, physicians, students and nurses. This book aspires to give update of the most scientific and clinical aspects of modern oncology. It aims also at showing the prospects that are opened by the rapid progress of cancer biology. The editors are grateful to the authors whose scholarship de­ fines the quality of the book. Educational lectures The pathogenesis of human cancer metastasis I] Fidler Cancer is a collection of malignancies with each cancer of each organ consist­ ing of numerous subsets. This biologic and clinical heterogeneity is probably due to the different etiologies, origins, and selection pressures. Despite this heterogeneity, all malignant neoplasms have a uniform characteristic : the ability to invade host tissues and produce metastases. Clinical observations of cancer patients and studies with experimental rodent tumors have revealed that cer­ tain tumors produce metastasis to specific organs independent of vascular anat­ omy, rate of blood flow, and number of tumor cells delivered to each organ. The distribution and fate of hematogeneously disseminated, radiolabelled tumor cells in experimental rodent systems amply demonstrate that tumor cells reach the microvasculature of many organs.

Over the past two decades a number of attempts have been made, with varying degrees of success, to collect in a single treatise available information on the basic and applied pharmacology and biochemical mechanism of action of antineoplastic and immunosuppressive agents. The logarithmic growth of knowledge in this field has made it progressively more difficult to do justice to all aspects of this topic, and it is possible that the present handbook, more than four years in preparation, may be the last attempt to survey in a single volume the entire field of drugs employed in cancer chemotherapy and immunosuppression. Even in the present instance, it has proved necessary for practical reasons to publish the material in two parts, although the plan of the work constitutes, at least in the editors'view, a single integrated treatment of this research area. A number of factors have contributed to the continuous expansion of research in the areas of cancer chemotherapy and immunosuppression. Active compounds have been emerging at ever-increasing rates from experimental tumor screening systems maintained by a variety of private and governmental laboratories through­ out the world. At the molecular level, knowledge of the modes of action of established agents has continued to expand, and has permitted rational drug design to play a significantly greater role in a process which, in its early years, depended almost completely upon empirical and fortuitous observations.

The publication of this volume, which is based upon presentations made to the Third European Symposium on Radiopharmacology at Noordwijkerhout, April 22 - 24, 1982, is indicative of the continued interest in this sub-branch of Nuclear Medicine. The transactions of the first two meetings were published as Progress in Radiopharmacology, Volumes 1 and 2 by Elsevier/North-Holland Bio­ medical Press. We are particularly pleased to have reached an agreement with Martinus Nijhoff Publishers to include Progress in Radiopharmacology 3 in the series Developments in Nuclear Medicine. This not only ensures the continuity of the series but by including it in a series of Nuclear Medical Monographs the availability of the text to more general readers, for background information, is greatly enhanced. As with the previous two volumes each of the three topics has been so treated as to relate the biodistribution of the radiopharmaceuticals to normal and pathophysiological conditions to provide background information for the practising nuclear medical specialist. Special attention has been given to European activities but these have been clearly placed in context in relation to developments from outside Europe. The Third European Symposium on Radiopharmacology was held under the auspices of the European Joint Commitee on Radiopharmaceuticals of the European Nuclear Medicine Society and the Society of Nuclear Medicine Europe. Solco Nuclear, Basle, provided both financial and material support and I would like to thank Dr M. de Schrijver, Mr. I. Waser and Mrs. E. Rufenacht for their continued help and encouragement.

The Twelfth Annual Washington Spring Symposium on Health Sciences attracted over 300 scientists from 20 countries. It was held at the Lisner Auditorium of the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. during June 1-5, 1992. The theme of the meeting was'Growth Factors, Peptides, and Receptors,'and speakers emphasized both basic and clinical research in these areas. The seven plenary sessions emphasized Peptides, Growth Factors, Peptide Receptors, Growth Factor Receptors, Second Messengers, Proliferation, and Clinical Correlations. The chapters in this volume are derived from each of these scientific sessions plus the poster and special sessions. The Abraham White Distinguished Scientist Award was presented to Dr. Solomon H. Snyder for his numerous contributions to the field of neurochemistry. He presented the keynote address'Nitric Oxide: A Novel Neuronal Messenger.'Dr. Snyder discussed the pathway of nitric oxide (NO) synthesis by the enzyme NO synthase. Released NO may be responsible for the neuronal toxicity associated with NMDA, an excitatory amino acid analogue. Dr. Snyder noted that NO may be the first of a new class of transmitters, with carbon monoxide being another candidate. The Distinguished Public Service Award was presented to Senator Fritz Hollings in of his leadership and outstanding achievements in the United States Senate recognition and for his legislative support for biomedical research and education. In the symposium banquet address, Senator Hollings stressed the need for continued support of research to combat serious diseases such as cancer.

Apoptosis is a fascinating concept for the basic scientist. This is not only because of the multifaceted variety of proposed and discovered mechanisms, but because apoptosis represents a fundamental pathway for cell renewal. The study of apoptosis has resulted in an array of discoveries on signal transduc­ tion and downstream effects that have facilitated and advanced many fields in biology, including research on cancer and other diseases. Thus, the apoptotic process can be viewed as the largest effort of the scientific community to understand how cells work and tissues assemble or remodel. The most direct consequence of this accumulated knowledge is a greater understanding of disease and pathological mechanisms. The end result of these efforts will be significant contributions to health and the adoption of new, never anticipated, therapeutic approaches. This book represents the summation of considerable effort from a significant group of contributors from all over the world as well as from its editors. In this fashion, many viewpoints have been collected and SUbjected to thorough academic discussion. The concepts contained in this medically important volume will stimulate and renew the ideas of scientists and indeed, will generate additional work to advance biological knowledge even further. The emphasis of this volume cements what has been established, adds what has not been explored fully, and creates a fertile ground for further hypotheses that will lead to a more complete understanding of the apoptotic process.

New developments in testosterone therapy are summarized here by internationally renowned experts. They review both basic and clinical knowledge in fourteen chapters. The book begins with the biochemistry of testosterone, its biosynthesis, metabolism and mechanisms of action in target organs. Three chapters deal with specific aspects of testosterone action, namely its role in spermatogenesis, its psychotropic effects and its effects on bones. Syndromes caused by androgen resistance are described in order to highlight the importance of properly functioning enzymes and receptors in the target organs. Causes and symptoms of male hypogonadism, the major indication for testosterone treatment, are described. Five chapters are devoted to the pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and clinical uses and abuses of testosterone preparations. The new transdermal testosterone application is described in detail. Side effects of testosterone treatment are reviewed. The possible role of androgens in the development of prostatic hypertrophy and carcinoma is discussed extensively since this question is of major concern to the clinician.

For many years, Springer has been publishing an impressive series of textbooks of pharmacology which have set standards in medical science. Surprisingly, an extensive overview of the current state of the art in research on estrogens and anti estrogens was still lacking. The present two volumes on estrogens and anti estrogens provide a comprehensive review of a field of research in which remarkable progress has been made over the past few years. New insights into the mechanisms of steroid hormone action resulted in a tremendous number of pUblications from which new principles of preventive and therapeutic appli­ cations of estrogens and anti estrogens emerged. Although various electronic data bases provide easy access to this copious information, there was a clear necessity for a monograph-style textbook which assesses and summarizes current knowledge in this rapidly expanding field of research. It should be noted, however, that, due to this dynamic development, it is barely possible to comprehensively update every aspect of basic and clinical knowledge on estro­ gens and antiestrogens. Thus, the intention of the editors was to provide the reader with an overview of the'classic'and most recently explored areas of research and stimulate future interests in basic and applied endocrinology. Estrogens were among the first steroid hormones described in the scientific literature. Since they were first isolated, since the chemical, synthesic and pharmacological characterization of naturally occurring estrogens and, later on, of orally active derivatives, estrogen research has produced continu­ ously hallmark results in reproductive endocrinology worldwide.

This book reviews the epidemiological associations between insulin resistance and cancer. This is followed by reviews of animal models which support this relationship and provide insight into potential mechanisms. Several chapters then provide detailed examination of the cellular and molecular changes characterizing the insulin resistant state, such as hyperinsulinemia, abnormal metabolism and hormone signaling, and how these interact with various tumor characteristics. For example some tumors present increased quantities of the fetal form of the insulin receptor, unique regulation of oxidative (Krebs'cycle) metabolism (Warburg effect), as well as mutations in various relevant signaling pathways. Finally, the clinical implications of these data are integrated with considerations of insulin “sensitization” and potential metabolic interventions to prevent and treat cancer. It should be noted that while a number of cancers are associated with obesity the authors here have focused primarily on breast cancer as a key and significant model.