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Preface

A cure for all cancer, of course, does not yet exist. But for the first time in the century-long fight against the disease, scientists are producing the profound kind of insights that will lead to a cure.

As a veteran observer of scientific progress, mostly from my post as a reporter at The Wall Street Journal since 1980, I am well aware that it's often difficult to recognize a breakthrough unless it comes in a single dramatic moment. Except for a few instances, however, such as the discovery of the DNA double helix in 1953, or the first cloning of a mammal in 1997, most scientific advances are the result of accumulated pieces of research, uncovered bit by bit, in small-sized experiments and discoveries over the course of many years. The importance of each of these separate research steps often is missed or misunderstood. But, in fact, in laboratories across the country and around the world, scientists are uncovering the pieces of knowledge that will eventually produce cures for many forms of cancer.

Right now it may seem that we are still very far away from the day these scientific fragments finally come together. At this writing, more than 2.3 million Americans each year will be diagnosed with some form of cancer; more than 1,500 Americans will die each day of the disease; and 560,000 will die this year.

Yet, there is a lot of promising news, at least from the labs where basic science takes place. In just the past few years, researchers have uncovered genes that cause inherited forms of cancer of the breast and colon; and several dozen other cancer-causing genes have been identified or are on the verge of being revealed. The identification of these genes is giving researchers the first true picture of how cancer begins. And the game discoveries are already helping doctors to find new ways to detect and prevent cancer, as well as assisting them in their efforts to invent new and powerful therapies.

This book is the story of these discoveries and of the researchers whose collective work is giving us a new and dramatic understanding of cancer. The story told here is, in a sense, a work in progress, an attempt to recognize a breakthrough as it is happening. It is the story behind the cure, as it emerges.

Copyright © 1997 by Michael Waldholz