Abstract

This article is the third in C&EN's series examining new biochemical insights into cancer. It considers the role in treating cancer of natural substances such as interferons that modify the body's response to invading cancer cells. Earlier articles looked into the role of oncogenes in initiating the cancer process (C&EN, Dec. 10, 1984, page 11) and examined the biochemistry of metastasis (C&EN, Feb. 25, page 10). One of the oldest ways of trying to treat cancer may be coming back into its own. Stimulating the body's own defenses to fight off the disease is a very old idea that, in the past decade, has returned to the forefront of cancer therapy. Its 20th century name is biological response modification, and the agents used to stimulate the process are called biological response modifiers, or brms. Probably the most well-known of the modern-day brms is interferon, widely touted about five years ago as, possibly, the magic bullet ...

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