[Kinetics of cell proliferation and cancer: introduction (author's transl)].

Research in the kinetics of cell proliferation directly interests oncologists for fundamental and pragmatic reasons. Since cancer is a perturbation of the control of cell proliferation and differentiation, such research may help to understand, the regulation mechanisms, in particular the role of microenvironment, of long range humoral factors, and of membrane site receptors. Furthermore the kinetics of cell proliferation in a normal tissue, or a tumour, influences its response to radiation or drugs. From this evolves the practical interest in research on hemopoietic tissues and on human and experimental tumors. Finally, the growth kinetics of human tumors explain their natural history and opens prospects for the treatment of intraclinical neoplastic disease and metastasis.