Biology of cancer: current issues and future prospects

The future of cancer treatment is limited only by the rate of progress made in understanding the biology of cancer. The future will present a considerable challenge to health care professionals to learn new theories, understand new terms, and expect different toxicities. The explosion of information and technology is exciting, yet frightening. The willingness of scientists, health care professionals, and consumers to deal with the ethical, financial, and political issues generated by this progress is gratifying. Because science has created such advances, the effort to deal with the outcomes is worthwhile but still difficult. The challenge to rapidly facilitate the sharing of the scientific and clinical advances has been recognized by the nation. A legislative mandate to create a way to store and analyze the vast data related to molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics resulted in the National Center for Biotechnology Information. The development of automated systems to analyze genetic, environmental, biological, and chemistry information can only enhance future progress in the management of cancer.