[Prerequest for increasing cure rate of cancer by chemotherapy]

Cancer chemotherapy is now the major modality to increase cure rate of cancer. In the past two decades systemic chemotherapy markedly improved the curability of several advanced malignancies in both adults and children. Several other cancers are also considered as curable by adjuvant setting. As for the low response group we must continue comprehensive approaches to improve response rate and duration. The knowledges of newer cancer biology provide us many ideas and targets of chemotherapy. The fundamental difficulties lie in cancer treatment are tumor side heterogeneity and host side individuality. Heterogeneity is now interpreted as the results of gene-instability and multi-oncogene involvement is of current interests. Thus in order to overcome these difficulties pharmacology-directed chemotherapy is now indispensable.