Understanding Cancer (an Introduction To The Biology, Medicine, And Societal Implications Of This Disease)

Understanding Cancer explains the biological processes that underlie cancer and inform our treatment of it. McIntosh presents stories of people touched by cancer, while maintaining precision about what is known and still unknown about cancer’s onset, development, prognosis, and current treatment.

Understanding Cancer is a brand new undergraduate textbook for students without prior training in biology that integrates an introduction to cancer medicine with descriptions of the biological processes that go wrong to cause cancer’s onset and progression. It also highlights the human side of cancer with stories of patients and loved ones touched by the disease, dealing with diagnosis, treatment, and the prospect of death as well as the broader societal aspects of cancer and its prevention. Key discoveries that have improved our understanding of cancer are presented in sidebars. In spite of this diversity, the book maintains precision and simplicity in describing what is and is not known about cancer, describing the strengths and limitations of current treatments

1. Cancer and the Biology of Human Cells. 2. Cancer Detection, Diagnosis, and Prognosis. 3. The Organization of Normal Human Cells. 4. How Normal Cells Reproduce and Differentiate. 5. Factors that Promote the Cancerous Transformation of Cells. 6. Oncogenes and their Role in Cancerous Transformation. 7. Tumor Suppressors and their Roles in Resisting Carcinogenic Transformation. 8. Medical Treatment for Cancer. 9. The Immune System and its Relationship to Cancer. 10. A Perspective on "Cancer Futures". 11. Minimizing Cancer Risk. 12. Living with Cancer.

J. Richard McIntosh is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He taught freshman biology for 20 years, cancer biology for nine, and graduate cell biology for 45. His research has focused on mitosis, earning him an American Cancer Society Research Professorship and election to the National Academy of Sciences, USA.