Stem Cells, Vol 11, 3-8, Copyright © 1993 by AlphaMed Press
The challenge of cancer research
S Broder
National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892.
The challenge of cancer research can be summarized by simple statistics. In
1992, more than 1.1 million Americans are expected to develop cancer, and
roughly 520,000 are expected to die from cancer. The National Cancer
Institute's (NCI's) mission is to eradicate the death and suffering from
cancer, to cure cancer once it starts and ultimately to prevent cancer. To
this end, initiatives that promote continued development of sophisticated
molecular technologies and clinical application of those technologies to
the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer are of surpassingly high
priority. Epidemiological studies tell us that at least 30-50% of cancer is
directly related to smoking, diet and environmental factors. Treatment
studies indicate that significant gains in survival are possible and have
already been achieved in some cancers, with promise from new drugs and
other modalities (including genetic engineering) for still other cancers.
Prevention strategies such as smoking reduction, diet, environmental
measures, chemoprevention and vaccine development have the potential to
achieve a substantial reduction in cancer mortality. This reduction,
realized over two decades, would result in at least 100,000 lives saved per
year in this country, and a large number can be saved just by applying what
we already know.
