Introduction The term pharmacogenetics is believed to have first been used in 1959 by Vogel who defined it as “the study of genetically determined variations revealed by the effect of drugs.” Motulsky described the field similarly, but perhaps from the…
Introduction All commercially available anticancer agents must have undergone Phase I investigation as part of their clinical development. As novel anticancer drugs evolved from primarily cytotoxic agents to targeted therapies, clinical investigators have developed novel Phase I trial designs and…
Chemotherapy of cancers has resulted in some notable successes, such as the cure of the majority of patients with childhood leukemias, testicular carcinomas, and Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin lymphomas. In other cancer types, such as breast, colorectal, and lung, chemotherapy also…
Cancer is characterized by the transformation of normal cells to ones characterized by abnormal cellular differentiation, proliferation, invasion, and metastases. The molecular and biochemical bases underlying the transformation process are becoming increasingly clear and provide critically important information for identifying…
Targeted therapy of human disease celebrated its 100th birthday in 2011. A century ago Paul Ehrlich, a German pathologist, produced the first “rationally designed” drug, which selectively targeted the microorganism Treponema pallidum , the cause of syphilis. The project was…
Introduction Soft tissue sarcomas are a heterogeneous group of neoplasms arising in mesenchymal tissue. There are more than 35 histologic subtypes, often associated with distinctive clinicopathologic features. Based on advances in our knowledge of the molecular pathogenesis of these tumors…
Cancer of the thyroid is the ninth most common malignancy diagnosed worldwide in women and 18th in both genders. In the United States, the incidence has been rising faster than that of any other malignancy; in 2012, overall incidence is…
Introduction The mapping of the human genome, and more recently the unraveling of human cancer–specific genomes, has led to more detailed understanding of carcinogenesis, cancer growth, progression, and metastasis. With this understanding, new treatment paradigms for cancer have been developed,…
Acknowledgments Because of the breadth of this review, we apologize for the unavoidable exclusion of references to work done by many outstanding investigators working in these areas. We acknowledge Professor Andrzej Dlugosz for advice on BCC pathogenesis. Skin Cancer Research…
Malignant primary tumors of the central nervous system (CNS) occur in about 25,500 individuals and account for an estimated 13,700 deaths in the United States annually, a mortality rate of 6.5 per 100,000. Based on most recent reports, benign tumors…