Advances in Cancer Research 4. [antikvár]

I. Introduction A consideration of the status of chemotherapy of cancer in man is based today upon actual achievement of objective effects against several forms of disseminated cancer by the action of chemical substances. There is still no chemical compound which alone is capable of producing a cure of cancer in man. The advances of the past ten years have come both from the pioneer endeavors and carefully planned programs in a few institutions in the world and from critically conducted empirical programs of cUnical investigation. That the break-through demonstrated by the successful, albeit temporary, therapeutic effects of a small number of chemical compounds against a few of the many forms of cancer in man was made possible largely because of empirical approaches, need in no way diminish the magnitude of the accomplishment nor discourage the investigator who seeks always for a rational approach in research. For it is clear that the advances of importance in the past ten years in the chemotherapy of cancer of man, while empirically produced, have not been the product of brilliant guesswork or luck. They have occurred as part of carefully planned efforts in a small number of institutions whose purpose it was to find therapeutic weapons against cancer. Such laboratories and clinics have made use of the vast amount of useful knowledge available in disciplines far removed from the field of chemotherapy of cancer. They have had also to fashion new techniques and vocabulary in initiating a new era in cancer research. Their efforts and initial success have stimulated hope of similar attacks on other problems in medicine once regarded as hopeless, such as certain neuropsychiatrie states.