The Chemotherapy of Cancer [antikvár]

The generation of medical men who started their studies at the beginning of this century was roused to enthusiasm for research work by the invention of salvarsan and, later, by the discovery of vitamins and hormones. They have witnessed and followed with attention the magnificent evolution in all branches of medical sciences, and admired the gradual defeat of infectious diseases by means of chemotherapeutics, antibiotics, and achievements of immunology. We, who had been teaching and writing textbooks of pharmacoíogy throughout the half of the century, became accustomed to the continuous need of rewriting and complementing our textbooks with new chapters in every 3 to 5 years, expressing by this our unswerving confidence in the unlimited progress of our branch of science. It was the time of the discovery of antibiotics when the first steps were made in chemotherapeutic research, starting from N mustard which seemed to have been destined for the final solution of curing cancer by means of drugs. At that time, nobody appeared to doubt that the increasing endeavours undertaken with skill and abundant financial support would lead to success within one or two decades. It seemed that we were in possession of every means necessary for this achievement: experimentál tumours and leukaemias transplantable from one animal to another, tumours that could be elicited by carcinogenic substances or viruses, a series of potent cytostatic agents: alkylating agents, antimetabolites, hormones, antibiotics, antimitotics, which all appeared to have served as firm bases for new approaches in chemotherapeutic research. Extensive investigations have cast light on the biochemical processes underlying cell division, thus opening new vistas in the purposeful search for new compounds sslectively blocking various phases of mitosis, the only way of realizing chemical aiming, the basic principle of chemotherapy. Initially, encouraging results fulfilling the expectations attached to the first efforts could be recorded, particularly in treating haemoblastoses. However, it has soon become evident that improvement of the patients is only transitory, and healing can be attained only occasionally. The results have been even less encouraging concerning the treatment of solid neoplasms. Despite the large number of cytostatics isolated and proved to be effective in destructing tumour cells in