The challenge of cancer research

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.