How Cancer Could be Cured by 2015

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Abstract
As announced by Andrew von Eschenbach, NCI has set the goal of eliminating suffering and death due to cancer by 2015. Supporting this prediction, I discuss that cancer might be controlled and even cured by combining three potential therapeutic strategies aimed at (i) cancer-specific targets, (ii) universally-vital targets with selective protection of normal cells (the selective combinations) and (iii) tissue-specific targets. Although (i) targeting cancer-specific pathways (e.g., by imatinib and gefitinib) is probable, it alone will not be sufficient to control cancer. This strategy is limited to oncogene (kinase)-dependent cancers and is further limited by therapy-induced resistance and tumor progression. Thus, targeting cancer-specific pathways needs to be complemented by two divergent therapeutic strategies: (ii) selective combinations and (iii) tissue-selective therapy. With selective protection of normal cells (based on cell cycle and apoptosis manipulation), combinations of selective and chemotherap...