Techniques and Methodological Approaches in Breast Cancer Research

This volume explores the myriad of techniques and methodological approaches that are being used inbreast cancer research. The authors critically evaluate of the advantages and disadvantages of current methodologies,starting with the tools available for understandingthe architecture of the human breast, includingits tissue and cellular composition.The volume discussesthe importance offunctional studies in breast cancer research, especially with the help oflaser capture microdissection, which allows the separation of small amounts of tissue, as well as specific cells, for biochemical analysis. In addition, the authors address methodologies including stem cell separation, which has helped in significantly understanding their role in normal breast development, but also further theunderstanding of breastcancer and its therapeutic management. The use of in vitro techniques and established cell lines for mechanistic studies inchemotherapeutic approaches have been invaluable will be discussed.Imaging techniquesfor evaluating in vitro and in vivo behavior of normal and cancerous breast tissue will be explored, as itprovidesa betterunderstanding of the physiopathology of cancer. The volume will also discuss the molecular analysis of gene function in breast cancerthrough the transcriptomic and epigenomic profile. More importantly, theadvancementof more refined techniques insequencing will be covered.This monograph will be a comprehensive, authoritative and timely, as itaddresses the emerging approaches used in breast cancer research.