This volume contains the scientific contributions presented at the International Symposium held in Naples, Italy, in November 1992 at the National Tumor Institute "Fondazione Pascale". The Meeting gathered together experts from different disciplines, all involved in the vital and timely subject of Nutrition and Cancer. About 15 years ago a consensus among cancer epidemiologists began to emerge suggesting that diet might be responsible for 30-60% of the cancers in the developed world. The best estimate, reported in a now classical paper by Richard Doll and Richard Peto (1981), was that by dietary modification, it would be possible to reduce fatal cancers by about 35%. Within about six years there was widespread agreement that the principal changes required were a reduction in consumption of fat, along with an increase in the consumption of fruit, green and yellow vegetables, dietary fiber, and some micronutrients. Attention was also paid to the methods of cooking and preservation of foodstuffs. On the other hand very few, if any, effects were attributed to food additives and to pollution of food by trace pesticides, to which the general public often gives unfounded importance.

Molecular Bases of Malignant Transformation.- Growth Factors and Malignant Transformation.- Tumor Suppressor Genes which Encode Transcriptional Repressors: Studies on the EGR and Wilms' Tumor (WT1) Gene Products.- Enzyme Deficiency and Tumor Suppressor Genes: Absence of 5'-Deoxy-5'-Methylthioadenosine Phosphorylase in Human Tumors.- HOX Gene Expression in Human Cancers.- Thyroid Specific Expression of the Ki-ras Oncogene in Transgenic Mice.- Epidemiological Studies: Risk Factors and Diet.- Nutrition and Cancer: General Considerations.- Diet and Precancerous Lesions.- Dietary Prevention of Chronic Diseases: The Potential for Cardiovascular Diseases.- Dietary Fibres and Cancer.- Dietary Fiber in the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease.- Clinical Research and Perspectives.- Diet and Large Bowel Cancer.- On the Nutritional Etiology of Breast Cancer.- Diet and Gastric Cancer.- Diet, Coeliac Disease and Gastrointestinal Neoplasm.- Protective Aspects of the Mediterranean Diet.- The Role of "Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis" in the Evaluation of the Nutritional Status of Cancer Patients.- High Serum HDL-Cholesterol in Pre-and Post-Menopausal Women with Breast Cancer in Southern Italy.- Contributors.