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Tumor Heterogeneity

  • Chapter
Pediatric Oncology 1

Part of the book series: Cancer Treatment and Research ((CTAR,volume 2))

Abstract

The heterogeneous nature of cancer as it appears in different patients or animals is one of the reasons for our primitive understanding and ability to control neoplastic diseases. However, inter-tumor heterogeneity is only one level of tumor variability. A second level, intra-tumor heterogeneity also contributes to the difficulties of understanding cancer. Although the idea that solid tumors are composed of mixtures of malignant cells, heterogeneous in regard to many characteristics, has long been accepted by clinical oncologists and pathologists, the majority of cancer researchers have sought to eliminate such heterogeneity from their experimental systems in order to obtain reproducible, unambiguous results. That tumor heterogeneity itself is an area suitable for experimental and clinical investigation has not been widely appreciated. The purpose of this chapter is to review the experimental and clinical basis for intra-tumor heterogeneity and to speculate on its possible significance to cancer therapeutics.

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Authors
  1. Gloria H. Heppner
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  2. William R. Shapiro
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  3. Joan K. Rankin
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oklahoma Children’s Memorial Hospital, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, P.O. Box 26901, Oklahoma City, OK, 73190, USA

    G. Bennett Humphrey

  2. Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Division of Surgical Pathology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Box 609, Mayo Memorial Building, 420 Delaware Street, S.E., Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Louis P. Dehner

  3. New York State University at Buffalo, USA

    Gerald B. Grindey

  4. Diabetes Research & Training Center, University of Alabama in Birmingham, 1808 Seventh Avenue South, University Station, Birmingham, AL, 35291, USA

    Ronald T. Acton

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© 1981 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers

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Heppner, G.H., Shapiro, W.R., Rankin, J.K. (1981). Tumor Heterogeneity. In: Humphrey, G.B., Dehner, L.P., Grindey, G.B., Acton, R.T. (eds) Pediatric Oncology 1. Cancer Treatment and Research, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8219-2_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8219-2_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-009-8221-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-8219-2

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