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Principles of Molecular Oncology pp 3–27Cite as

Selecting the Right Targets for Cancer Therapy

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Abstract

It will surely be through science and hard work, rather than some peculiar trick of magic or mere luck, that cancer will finally be defeated. To understand the prospects of cancer research, practicing clinicians and the public in general should have some idea of the present state of our knowledge on the subject. In the past two decades there has been an explosion of knowledge in the molecular aspects of cancer: some 200 genes and their respective protein products have been described as directly or indirectly linked to cancer. There are so many trees that there is a real risk of missing the forest. Cancer clinicians (medical oncologists, hematologists, general surgeons, gynecologists, urologists, etc.) find it increasingly more difficult to stay abreast of knowledge in the molecular aspects of these complex diseases. Indeed, some believe that in the not too distant future, relevant information will pass from the molecular pathology laboratory to the busy cancer clinical units only with the help of clever computer programs. Before clinicians can determine the curability or incurability of any given cancer, and to decide which sequence and combination of drugs to use to treat a patient, they will need to consult a computer program and the molecular pathology laboratory.

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Authors
  1. Miguel H. Bronchud
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  2. William P. Peters
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hospital General of Granollers, Barcelona, Spain

    Miguel H. Bronchud MD, PhD

  2. Amgen Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA, USA

    Mary Ann Foote PhD  & Murray O. Robinson MD, PhD  & 

  3. Barbara Ann Karmonos Cancer Institute, The Detroit Medical Center, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA

    William P. Peters PhD

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© 2000 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Bronchud, M.H., Peters, W.P. (2000). Selecting the Right Targets for Cancer Therapy. In: Bronchud, M.H., Foote, M.A., Peters, W.P., Robinson, M.O. (eds) Principles of Molecular Oncology. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-222-7_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-222-7_1

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-6274-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-222-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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