Adipocytokines provide the circuitry by which adipose tissue communicates among its component cells which include adipocytes, stromal cells, immune cells and vascular elements, with adipose tissue depots in other locations throughout the body and with other tissues in order to regulate physiologic processes of energy intake, utilization, and distribution. Since disturbances, both qualitative and quantitative, in adipocytokine function contribute significantly to many of the comorbidities associated with obesity, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer, this volume, which discusses most of the major adipocytokines independently and collectively and their roles in normal and pathologic processes, should be useful to all individuals seeking a deeper understanding of these processes. Moreover, it provides a valuable complement to the series on Energy Balance and Cancer, in which each volume is focused on a specific aspect of this process, which now constitutesan expanding problem as the obesity pandemic continues and more of the population reaches the age where cancer is most prevalent. This volume should provide a valuable resource to all clinicians and scientists engaged in caring for susceptible patients and in exploring the relation between energy balance and cancer as well as an important platform to providing the background for research development.
