Some tumor cells are resistant to chemotherapy. An understanding of the mechanism of this resistance has led to the development of taxane drugs that can sensitize the tumor to chemotherapy with few systemic side effects.
Cancer is second only to heart disease as a cause of death in the United States.
The threat posed by cancer was officially addressed early in 1971 with the enactment of the National Cancer Act, which increased research funding and was instrumental in the development of several national research centers. Almost half of the new cases of cancer are diagnosed early enough to be treated with surgery or radiotherapy. In the remaining cases, however, the cancer has metastasized and must be treated with chemotherapy. Chemotherapy can effectively cure several cancers, such as leukemia, lymphomas, and sarcomas, and can improve the long-term survival for patients with breast cancer, the most common malignancy in women. Although nearly 50 antineoplastic drugs are in use, only a few are effective in the treatment of each specific tumor type because of intrinsic or primary drug resistance.