"Version: 20150901"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references.

Preface -- About the author -- Introduction -- part 1. Introduction to tumor biology from a biophysical point of view -- 1. Initiation of a neoplasm or tumor -- 1.1. Initiation of a neoplasm, tumor growth and neoangiogenesis -- 1.2. Malignant progression of cancer (metastasis) -- 1.3. Hallmarks of cancer -- 1.4. The impact of the mechanical properties of cancer cells on their migration

2. Inflammation and cancer -- 2.1. Inflammation : acute and chronic -- 2.2. The dual relationship between inflammation and cancer

part 2. The role of the mechanical properties of cancer cells in cellular invasion -- 3. Cellular stiffness and deformability -- 3.1. Magnetic tweezers -- 3.2. Optical cell stretcher

4. Cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion strength, local cell stiffness and forces -- 4.1. Atomic force microscopy -- 4.2. Traction forces

5. Cytoskeletal remodeling dynamics -- 5.1. Nano-scale particle tracking -- 5.2. FRAP

6. Intermediate filaments and nuclear deformability during matrix invasion -- 6.1. Intermediate filaments, cellular mechanical properties and cellular motility -- 6.2. The role of intermediate and actin filaments interactions -- 6.3. The role of nuclear intermediate filaments in cell invasion -- 6.4. The role of cell division in cellular motility

7. Cell surface tension, the mobility of cell surface receptors and their location in specific regions -- 7.1. Surface tension -- 7.2. The mobility of surface receptors -- 7.3. Specific membrane regions as a location for surface receptors

part 3. The impact of the tumor microenvironment on cellular invasion -- 8. The mechanical and structural properties of the microenvironment -- 8.1. Pore size -- 8.2. Matrix stiffness -- 8.3. Matrix composition -- 8.4. The impact of fiber thickness, connection points and polymerization dynamics on cancer cell invasion -- 8.5. The role of a matrix stiffness gradient in cancer cell invasion

9. The impact of cells and substances within the extracellular matrix tissue on mechanical properties and cell invasion -- 9.1. The impact of tumor-associated fibroblasts on matrix mechanical properties -- 9.2. The role of substances and growth factors within the extracellular matrix in cancer cell's mechanical properties

part 4. The impact of the mechanical and biochemical interaction of cancer cells with other cells in transendothelial migration -- 10. The role of endothelial cell-cell adhesions -- 10.1. The expression of cell-cell adhesion molecules -- 10.2. The strength of cell-cell adhesions -- 10.3. The cancer cell transmigration route -- 10.4. The role of cancer cell exerted invadopodia during transendothelial migration

11. The mechanical properties of endothelial cells altered by aggressive cancer cells -- 11.1. The role of endothelial cell stiffness -- 11.2. The role of the endothelial contractile apparatus -- 12. The role of macrophages during cancer cell transendothelial migration.

Physics of Cancer focuses on the mechanical properties of cancer cells and their role in cancer disease and metastasis. It discusses the role of the mechanical properties of interacting cells and the connective tissue microenvironment and describes the role of an inflammation during cancer disease. This outstanding book is the first to describe cancer disease from a biophysical point of view without being incomplete in describing the biological site of cancer. Originating in part from the author's own courses on tumor biology and cellular biophysics, this book is suitable for both students and researchers in this dynamic interdisciplinary field, be they from a physical, biological or medical sciences background.

Graduate students and active researchers in biophysics, medical physics, oncology, cell biology, medicine and pharmacology.

Also available in print.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Claudia Tanja Mierke has a background in biology and molecular oncology and is Head of the Biological Physics Division at the University of Leipzig where she regularly teaches molecular and cell biology, biophysics and soft matter physics to physicists. She is concerned with various research areas developing our understanding of the physical aspects of cancer.

Title from PDF title page (viewed on October 1, 2015).