He likened current treatment to giving penicillin to everyone with a lung infection, regardless of whether the infection was likely to respond to an antibiotic. Those afflicted by a similar-looking cancer called diffuse large cell lymphoma, for instance, actually fall into three major subgroups that all respond very differently to chemotherapy. And while chemotherapy is particularly effective with some cancers, it is less effective with others. Photo by Donna Coveney Chemistry and biology will forge a stronger relationship as chemistry leads toward an ever-growing set of chemical probes. These probes, Dr. Klauser said, are just as important as the drive to identify genetic links to cancer.
Chemistry also is pivotal in drug discovery.
Meanwhile, the race is on to identify the molecular mechanics that turn a normal cell into a cancer cell. If researchers knew how to read and decipher the series of genetic changes that cause this transformation, they could move from guesswork to a real level of understanding, Dr. Klausner said. MIT has made and continues to make major contributions to basic cancer research. The CCR at MIT opened in 1974. Scientists from the CCR have made major discoveries, including cloning of the first oncogene from a human tumor and isolating several disease genes, including those for Huntington's disease, myotonic dystrophy and Wilm's tumor.