Killer T

Our world is about to change in ways we can barely imagine. Killer T is a novel about growing up in that world.

Where does my body begin? Where does it end? What is inside my body? What is outside? What is primary? What is secondary? What is natural? What is artificial? Science fiction has long imagined a future fusion of humanity with technology. Today, many of us—especially people with health issues such as autoimmune diseases—have functionally become hybrids connected to other machines and to other bodies. The combination of artificial intelligence with implants, transplants, prostheses, and genetic reprogramming is transforming medical research and treatment, and it is now also transforming what we thought was human nature. Mark C. Taylor identifies this process as “intervolution” and explores how it is weaving together smart things and smart bodies to create new forms of life. Our wired bodies are no longer freestanding individuals, but interconnected nodes in worldwide networks. Recognizing this transformation overturns deeply entrenched distinctions and oppositions between minds and bodies. Intervolution reveals that we are already cyborgs, integral cogs in what will become a superorganism of bodies and things.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A gorgeously illustrated deep dive into the immune system that will forever change how you think about your body, from the creator of the popular science YouTube channel Kurzgesagt—In a Nutshell “Through wonderful analogies and a genius for clarifying complex ideas, Immune is a truly brilliant introduction to the human body’s vast system for fighting infections and other threats.”—John Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars You wake up and feel a tickle in your throat. Your head hurts. You’re mildly annoyed as you get the kids ready for school and dress for work yourself. Meanwhile, an epic war is being fought, just below your skin. Millions are fighting and dying for you to be able to complain as you head out the door. But most of us never really stop to ask: What even is our immune system? Second only to the human brain in its complexity, it is one of the oldest and most critical facets of life on Earth. Without it, you would die within days. In Immune, Philipp Dettmer, the brains behind the most popular science channel on YouTube, takes readers on a journey through the fortress of the human body and its defenses. There is a constant battle of staggering scale raging within us, full of stories of invasion, strategy, defeat, and noble self-sacrifice. In fact, in the time you’ve been reading this, your immune system has probably identified and eradicated a cancer cell that started to grow in your body. Each chapter delves into an element of the immune system, including defenses like antibodies and inflammation as well as threats like bacteria, allergies, and cancer, as Dettmer reveals why boosting your immune system is actually nonsense, how parasites sneak their way past your body’s defenses, how viruses work, and what goes on in your wounds when you cut yourself. Enlivened by engaging full-color graphics and immersive descriptions, Immune turns one of the most intricate, interconnected, and confusing subjects—immunology—into a gripping adventure through an astonishing alien landscape. Immune is a vital and remarkably fun crash course in what is arguably, and increasingly, the most important system in the body.

Publisher Description

Cancer cells exist in an ever-changing “ecology” and are subject to evolutionary pressures just like any species in nature. This edited book explores the following themes: 1) how the dynamics of mutation, epigenetics, and gene expression noise are sources of genetic diversity; 2) how scarce resources influence cancer therapy resistance; 3) how predator-prey dynamics are mirrored in immune-cancer cross-talk; 4) how cancer cells parallel niche construction theory; 5) how changing fitness landscapes enable cancer growth; and 6) how cancer cells interact within the body. The book is a resource for understanding cancer as a disease of multicellularity grounded in evolutionary principles. By using this knowledge, researchers are starting to exploit these behaviors for treatment paradigms. Key Features Bridges disciplines exemplifying the ways disparate fields create new perspectives when integrated. Offers insights from leading scholars in cancer biology, ecology and evolutionary biology. Provides a timely recognition by oncologists that evolutionary paradigms are crucial for breakthroughs in cancer treatment. Integrates basic and applied sciences of oncology and evolutionary biology.

The early, organ-specific diagnosis of malignancy continues to be a major unmet medical need. Clearly the ability to establish an early diagnosis of cancer is dependent upon an intimate knowledge of the cancer's biology, which if understood at the molecular level should identify key diagnostic and therapeutic manipulation points. Advances in recombinant gene technology have provided significant understanding of the mechanisms of action of oncogenic viruses, as well as of cancer-associated genomic sequences (onco genes). This text will explore the known molecular genetic, biolog ical, and clinical knowledge of selected human neoplasms that demonstrate association with suspected oncogenic virus and those cytogenetic alterations that either cause or are caused by oncogene activation. The text first reviews the cytogenetics of human cancers link ing classical cytogenetics and molecular genetics. Avery A. Sand berg (Roswell Park Memorial Institute, Buffalo, New York) reviews the leukemias and lymphomas, followed by S. Pathak (M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute, Houston, Texas), who reviews solid tumors. Functional consideration of oncogenes is highlighted by Keith C. Robbins and Stuart A. Aaronson (NO, Bethesda, Maryland) through their description of the v-sis locus sis and its gene product p.28 ; a protein that closely resembles human platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF).

An essential physiology and anatomy text, this book guides readers through the basic structure and functions of the body systems to more complex issues of clinical disorders and healthcare practice. Fully updated and revised to incorporate advances in understanding, the book examines the cardiovascular, lymphatic, nervous, endocrine, reproductive, and respiratory systems. It discusses the kidneys and urinary tract as well as skeletal muscle, embryo development, and circadian rhythms. The last section of the book presents case studies demonstrating the material in the text. Additional resources are available on an accompanying website.

The Advances in Cancer Research series provides invaluable information on the exciting and fast-moving field of cancer research. This volume presents outstanding and original reviews on a variety of topics, including cancer cell migration and invasion, human tumor suppressors, FAK expression, adhesion proteins, homeobox genes in cancer development, glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis, histocompatibility antigens in tumors, NKT cells, chronic immune activation, and cancer cells and leukocytes.

Since their discovery NK cells have come out as potential tools to fight cancer and viruses. This finding early urged different groups to study the mechanisms governing NK cell function. The identification of the MHC-I-specific inhibitory receptors (i.e. KIRs, NKG2A and certain Ly49 molecules) allowed defining rather rapidly how NK cells could avoid self-aggression and how they could be directed towards targets that were forced, by viral infection or tumor transformation, to down-regulate MHC-I expression. In a second time, also the repertoire of surface activating receptors addressing NK cytotoxicity towards tumors and pathogens was mostly defined. In spite of the first findings, however, most recent studies may suggest that NK cells and their receptors might not have been evolved to kill tumor targets and, perhaps, they might have been only partially influenced, in their evolution, by the need of recognizing viruses. Indeed certain NK receptors known to activate NK cell cytotoxicity (NKp30, DNAM-1, NKp80) can also participate at regulatory interactions occurring between NK and myeloid cells. In addition, a peculiar NK cell subset which intensively populate decidua during the first trimester of pregnancy, through the engagement of specific receptors and the interaction with decidual DC, produce chemokines and pro-angiogenic cytokines, and induce Tregs. Thus, in this context, NK cells favor decidua vascularization and development of the (semiallogeneic) foetus in a tolerant environment. Viruses have nevertheless played an important role in shaping the NK cell receptor repertoire. Several studies have unveiled clues of the evolutionary struggle between these pathogens and NK cells. Different NK receptors, including NKp46, NKp30, NKp44, NKG2D, NKG2C, Ly49, and certain KIRs have been demonstrated to recognize virus-encoded or virus-induced ligands. The expression of TLR specifically recognizing microbial products, together with the unexpected role of KIR3DL2 in shuttling these products to TLR-containing endosomes have also been documented in NK cells. On the other side, different viral immune evasion molecules have been shown to interfere with the expression of ligands for T or NK cell activating receptors. In addition, viral infections can occur in the reproductive stage of life cycle, and may represent a serious threat for the species propagation. Thus the control of viruses, together with the maintenance of foetus during pregnancy, should represent major evolutionary forces in shaping NK-receptors. Along this line, the NK-mediated control of tumors should not be under the same evolutionary pressure, as tumors mostly appear later in the life cycle, and the recognition of tumor-encoded ligands may be less efficient (as the NK cell receptors might have not been selected for such aim). This may be the reason why, although displaying strong antitumor activity in vitro, NK cells could hardly contain tumor burden in vivo. In addition the pathogen-driven evolution of NK cell function may also favor the role of NK cells in the insurgence of immune-mediated diseases. This research topic will collect contributions that may clarify the relationships between the evolution of the NK receptors and their role in an efficient recognition of viruses and tumor cells or in immune-mediated diseases.

Selected as a Doody's Core Title for 2022! Defining the field of immunology for 40 years, Paul’s Fundamental Immunology continues to provide detailed, authoritative, up-to-date information that uniquely bridges the gap between basic immunology and the disease process. The fully revised 8th edition maintains the excellence established by Dr. William E. Paul, who passed away in 2015, and is now under new editorial leadership of Drs. Martin F. Flajnik, Nevil J. Singh, and Steven M. Holland. It’s an ideal reference and gold standard text for graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, basic and clinical immunologists, microbiologists and infectious disease physicians, and any physician treating diseases in which immunologic mechanisms play a role.