Sporn M B
Department of Pharmacology, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.
Lancet. 1996 May 18;347(9012):1377-81. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(96)91015-6.
25 years ago, then President Nixon "declared" War on Cancer. In this personal commentary, the war is reviewed. There have been obvious triumphs, for instance in cure of acute lymphocytic leukaemia and other childhood cancers, Hodgkin's disease, and testicular cancer. However, substantial advances in molecular oncology have yet to impinge on mortality statistics. Too many adults still die from common epithelial cancers. Failure to appreciate that local invasion and distant metastasis rather then cell proliferation itself are lethal, obsession with cure of advanced disease rather than prevention of early disease, and neglect of the need to arrest preneoplastic lesions may all have served to make victory elusive.
25年前，时任美国总统尼克松“宣布”向癌症宣战。在这篇个人评论中，对这场战争进行了回顾。已经取得了显著的胜利，例如治愈急性淋巴细胞白血病和其他儿童癌症、霍奇金淋巴瘤以及睾丸癌。然而，分子肿瘤学的重大进展尚未对死亡率统计数据产生影响。仍有太多成年人死于常见的上皮性癌症。未能认识到局部侵袭和远处转移而非细胞增殖本身才是致命的，痴迷于治愈晚期疾病而非预防早期疾病，以及忽视阻止癌前病变的必要性，所有这些都可能导致胜利难以实现。
