The Control of Growth Processes by Chemical Agents [antikvár]

Arnold D. Welch Ladies and Gentlemen: For many years your chairman has been an ex- ponent of the thesis that major advances in pharmacology and therapeutics should result from a combination of fundamental research on the bio- chemical mechanisms of parasitic cells, including even those that have resulted from malignant transformation or virus infection, coupled with the necessary empiricism forced upon us by incomplete knowledge of the relationships between chemical structure and biological activity. Each of our speakers today is a member of a relatively small group that has been active in advancing therapeutics through this type of so-called rational approach to chemotherapy, and it is especially gratifying to me, therefore, to have been asked to organize a "Symposium on the Control of Growth Processes by Chemical Agents". Our program has been for- mulated by your chairman and the two vice-chairmen, Professors R. E. Handschumacher and J. Skoda. Since the subject has developed rapidly during recent years, only small samplings of it could be made for this symposium. Nevertheless, five important areas have been selected for re- view, and each of these will be discussed by a recognized authority. Thus, Dr. George H. Hitchings of the Wellcome Research Laboratories in Tuckahoe, New York, who is distinguished for the synthesis and develop- ment of several important drugs, will discuss the basic investigations that have led to the development of still another important new chemothera- peutic agent, trimethoprim; Professor Robert E. Handschumacher of the Department of Pharmacology of Yale University, New Haven, Connecti- cut, a leader in research on the intermediary metabolism of pyrimidines and its interruption by chemical agents, will discuss pyrimidine metabolism as a target for chemotherapy; Dr. Charles G. Smith, the distinguished head of biochemical research in the Upjohn Laboratories, Kalamazoo, Michigan, will summarize recent biochemical and biological studies with a most interesting analogue of a pyrimidine derivative, namely, arabino- furanosyl cytosine, in which the structure of the sugar moiety, rather than that of a naturally occurring base, has been altered; Professor William H. Prusoff, also of the Department of Pharmacology of Yale University, l