Isaiah J. Fidler

Bio: Isaiah J. Fidler is an academic researcher from University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The author has contributed to research in topics: Metastasis & Cancer. The author has an hindex of 135, co-authored 595 publications receiving 67945 citations. Previous affiliations of Isaiah J. Fidler include University of Texas at Austin & National Institutes of Health.

The pathogenesis of cancer metastasis: the 'seed and soil' hypothesis revisited

Abstract: Researchers have been studying metastasis for more than 100 years, and only recently have we gained insight into the mechanisms by which metastatic cells arise from primary tumours and the reasons that certain tumour types tend to metastasize to specific organs. Stephen Paget's 1889 proposal that metastasis depends on cross-talk between selected cancer cells (the 'seeds') and specific organ microenvironments (the 'soil') still holds forth today. It is now known that the potential of a tumour cell to metastasize depends on its interactions with the homeostatic factors that promote tumour-cell growth, survival, angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis. How has this field developed over the past century, and what major breakthroughs are most likely to lead to effective therapeutic approaches?

The pathogenesis of cancer metastasis

Abstract: Metastases do not result from random survival of cells released from the primary tumour but from the selective growth of specialised subpopulations of highly metastatic cells endowed with specific properties that befit them to complete each step of the metastatic process.

Metastasis Results from Preexisting Variant Cells Within a Malignant Tumor

Abstract: Clones derived in vitro from a parent culture of murine malignant melanoma cells varied greatly in their ability to produce metastatic colonies in the lungs upon intravenous inoculation into syngeneic mice. This suggests that the parent tumor is heterogeneous and that highly metastatic tumor cell variants preexist in the parental population.

Selection of successive tumour lines for metastasis.

Abstract: The pathogenesis of metastasis begins with the invasion of tissues, blood vessels and/or lymphatics by cells originating from a primary cancer. Following their release into the circulation, most tumour emboli are initially arrested in the first capillary bed encountered, but some recirculate and are trapped in other organs. After their initial arrest, tumour cells must invade the parenchyma, establish a micro-environment, escape host defence mechanisms and finally grow into secondary tumours1.

Evidence based medicine: what it is and what it isn't.

Abstract: It's about integrating individual clinical expertise and the best external evidence Evidence based medicine, whose philosophical origins extend back to mid-19th century Paris and earlier, remains a hot topic for clinicians, public health practitioners, purchasers, planners, and the public. There are now frequent workshops in how to practice and teach it (one sponsored by the BMJ will be held in London on 24 April); undergraduate1 and postgraduate2 training programmes are incorporating it3 (or pondering how to do so); British centres for evidence based practice have been established or planned in adult medicine, child health, surgery, pathology, pharmacotherapy, nursing, general practice, and dentistry; the Cochrane Collaboration and Britain's Centre for Review and Dissemination in York are providing systematic reviews of the effects of health care; new evidence based practice journals are being launched; and it has become a common topic in the lay media. But enthusiasm has been mixed with some negative reaction.4 5 6 Criticism has ranged from evidence based medicine being old hat to it being a dangerous innovation, perpetrated by the arrogant to serve cost cutters and suppress clinical freedom. As evidence based medicine continues to evolve and adapt, now is a useful time to refine the discussion of what it is and what it is not. Evidence based medicine is the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. The …

Stem cells, cancer, and cancer stem cells

Abstract: Stem cell biology has come of age. Unequivocal proof that stem cells exist in the haematopoietic system has given way to the prospective isolation of several tissue-specific stem and progenitor cells, the initial delineation of their properties and expressed genetic programmes, and the beginnings of their utility in regenerative medicine. Perhaps the most important and useful property of stem cells is that of self-renewal. Through this property, striking parallels can be found between stem cells and cancer cells: tumours may often originate from the transformation of normal stem cells, similar signalling pathways may regulate self-renewal in stem cells and cancer cells, and cancer cells may include 'cancer stem cells' - rare cells with indefinite potential for self-renewal that drive tumorigenesis.