Genome Instability in Cancer Development [electronic resource] / edited by Nathan Back, Irun R. Cohen, David Kritchevsky, Abel Lajtha, Rodolfo Paoletti, Erich A. Nigg.

The Multiplicity of Mutations in Human Cancers -- Monitoring Chromosome Rearrangements -- Nucleotide Excision Repair and its Connection with Cancer and Ageing -- DNA Mismatch Repair and Colon Cancer -- Base Excision Repair -- Genomic Instability in Cancer Development -- Translesion Synthesis And Errorprone Polymerases -- The INK4A/Arf Network - Cell Cycle Checkpoint or Emergency Brake? -- DNA Replication and Genomic Instability -- The Dream of Every Chromosome: Equal Segregation for a Healthy Life of the Host -- Telomere Structural Dynamics in Genome Integrity Control and Carcinogenesis -- Gene Amplification Mechanisms -- DNA Methylation and Cancer-associated Genetic Instability -- Deregulation of the Centrosome Cycle and the Origin of Chromosomal Instability in Cancer -- Mammalian DNA Damage Response Pathway -- ATM and Cellular Response to DNA Damage -- Mitotic Checkpoint, Aneuploidy and Cancer.

This book reviews both genetic and biochemical data on the origin of genome instability and its impact on carcinogenesis. Reflecting recent discoveries and ongoing research, it discusses DNA repair mechanisms and hereditary cancer syndromes, as well as checkpoint mechanisms operating to safeguard chromosome integrity during cell cycle progression. Moreover, it summarises our current understanding of the various defects that may allow cancer cells to rapidly accumulate critical mutations and evolve, through processes reminiscent of Darwinian selection, an increasingly aggressive behaviour. Hopefully, this book will stimulate thought, discussion and experimentation, and serve as a rich source of information for a wide audience, including advanced students, researchers and clinical oncologists.