The serendipitously discovered link between developmental biology and cancer touched of an
explosion of discoveries on the role of Notch in human malignancies including every aspect of
cancer biology from control of differentiation proliferation and apoptosis in transformed
cells to angiogenesis tumor-stroma interaction and anti-cancer immune responses. A number of
observations have revealed that Notch even plays a role in the renewal of cancer stem cells and
tumor initiating cells which are thought to be a major cause of resistance to treatment.
Targeting Notch in Cancer will provide researchers oncologists pharmacologists and students
with a detailed understanding of the intricate cross-talk between Notch and other pathways of
therapeutic interest so to better design rational drug combinations for specific diseases and
disease subsets.Divided into two parts Part I describes in detail what we know about the
genetics molecular biology biochemistry and structural biology of Notch as well as the role
of Notch in such processes as angiogenesis and immune surveillance. Without insights gained
from these basic studies rational targeting of Notch in human disease would be impossible.
Part II describes the role of Notch and ongoing experimental therapeutic efforts in the most
important subtypes of human cancers organized in a clinically oriented fashion by organs and
systems affected
