Foreword

In 1889, Dr. Stephen Paget investigated the pattern of metastasis in over 700 patients with a variety of cancers. From his studies he concluded that the process of metastasis [1] was not random but rather regulated by a proper interplay between the cancer cells (seed) and the organ microenvironment (soil) of the host. His "seed and soil" hypothesis laid one of the major milestones in the biology of cancer metastasis. That was largely forgotten for over 100 years until Dr. Isaiah J. Fidler awaken Dr. Paget's work and fortified the "seed and soil" hypothesis [2] with three crucial principles: (1) neoplasms are biologically heterogeneous and contain subpopulations of cells with different angiogenic, invasive, and metastatic properties; (2) the process of metastasis is selective for cells that succeed in invasion, embolization, survival in the circulation, arrest in a distant capillary bed, and extravasation into and multiplication within the organ parenchyma; and (3) the outcome of metastasis depends on multiple interactions ("cross-talk") of metastatic cells with homeostatic mechanisms, which the tumor cells can usurp. Dr. Fidler further gave emphasis to the principle that therapy of metastasis can be targeted not only against tumor cells but also against the homeostatic factors that promote tumor cell growth, survival, angiogenesis, invasion, and metastasis. These seminal concepts, together with Dr. Judah Folkman's shaping statement in 1971 that all cancer tumors are angiogenesis-dependent, defined the fields of cancer metastasis and angiogenesis [3]

It is indeed my great pleasure to prologue the making of the monogram "Angiogenesis and Therapeutic Targets in Cancer" organized and edited by Professor Malay Chatterjee. This book encompasses many important areas in the therapy of cancer by targeting various parameters of the angiogenesis process, such as angiogenesis inhibitors, dietary agents that affect angiogenesis, molecular markers for therapy, microenvironment, receptor tyrosine kinases, and signal transduction pathways; of the breast, gastric, lung, prostate, renal cancers as well as Schwannoma and multiple myeloma. I look forward to a stimulating monogram and a successful press.

I hold in true and wish therefore to share in this monogram my personal principle that "for tumor progression and cancer metastasis are not random - treatments and cure is logical and eventual".