Scientific Basis of Cancer Chemotherapy

With the clinical application of nitrogen mustard's (mechlorethamine hydrochloride) activity on lymphomatous tissue vaguely realized, the medical strategy for the controy of cancer was born. During the subsequent three decades, innumerable drugs have been tested and a handful have perculated through multifarous evaluations to find useful clinical applications. The principles regarding the application of these drugs on a clinical basis and their relationship to surgery, radiation therapy, and, more recently, immunology, developed slowly. Paced by Skipper's work on the cell kinetics of L 1210 mouse leukemia and Bruce's work on drug cell cycle activity, a lava flow of principles guiding medical oncology has begun. In 1962, the European Organization for Research into Cancer Treatment (OERTC) was founded as an agency to coordinate work in 16 European institutions. This monograph represents the first session of the 1968 meeting of OERTC which was devoted to a teaching seminar for clinicians. The chapters