Advances in Cancer Research 2. [antikvár]

PREFACE In the year which has elapsed since the publication of Volume I of Advances in Cancer Research, the editors have been gratified by the favorable reception accorded to it, equally by their fellow workers and by the scientific press. This they regard not only as a general encouragement of the new enterprise but also as a reflection of the value, certainly no less in this than in any other scientific field, of the authoritative review. Since their aim is not only to consolidate the venture but, so far as is possible, to improve it, they take the present opportunity of welcoming suggestions to this end, whether concerned with particular topics or aspects which most merit inclusion, or with policy as a whole. In the current volume, the central theme of carcinogenesis again finds a prominent place, as, for example, in the review of carcinogenesis and tumor pathogenesis by Dr. I. Berenblum, whose own work has elucidated so many of the factors involved; and in that of Dr. G. M. Badger, who, not only as a pupil of Professor J. W. Cook at the Royal Cancer Hospital in London and at the University of Glasgow, but also by virtue of his own contributions subsequently, is especially qualified to deal with the relationships of chemical constitution and carcinogenic activity. Although the list of chemical carcinogens is doubtless still incomplete, and much may still be learned from the chemical interrelationships of those already known, within the past few years a new emphasis has inevitably been given to problems of their mode of action, involving a shift of interest toward those macromolecular receptors with which, it would appear, they most probably combine. This development has been greatly stimulated by the discovery of carcinogenic activity in a whole range of "biological alkylating agents," the reactions of which, among other carcinogens, are dealt with in a contribution by Dr. P. Alexander. So far at least as their biological end-results are concerned, many of these alkylating agents may very reasonably be described as "radiomimetic," lending special significance to the facts, first that the earliest experimentally induced tumors owed their origin to ionizing radiations, and, second, that the total of carcinogenic agents has been greatly increased, through the wealth of radioisotopes accruing from the atomic energy programs of the past ten years; these, and their practical bearings, are considered in a contribution by Dr. A. M. Brues. From its beginnings, research into the etiology of cancer has been vii