[Biochemical modulation of chemotherapy of urologic malignancies]

Generally speaking, the outcome of cancer chemotherapy for urologic malignancies is poor. This poor response is attributed to the weak sensitivity to anti-cancer agents, represented by renal cell cancer, and the advanced age of most patients to tolerate the toxicities of the drugs, as is experienced in prostate cancer patients, which leads to insufficient therapy. Biochemical modulation was initially used to refer to the enhancement of the effect of 5-FU by modulating its pharmacological action by the addition of other drugs. The concept was expanded to the enhancement of the effect of the chemotherapeutic agents, potentiating the pharmacological action and/or reducing the toxicity, by means of any drug or biological modality. This preface is for the following 7 articles which were based on the presentations at the Symposium of 42nd Annual Meeting of Central Section of Japanese Urological Association in 1992, entitled as "Biochemical modulation of chemotherapy of urologic malignancies".