control of advanced cancer the road to chronicity控制晚期癌症慢性之路.pdfVIP

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2011, 8, 683-697; doi:10.3390/ijerph8030683 OPEN ACCESS International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ISSN 1660-4601 /journal/ijerph Review Control of Advanced Cancer: The Road to Chronicity Agustin Lage * and Tania Crombet Centre of Molecular Immunology, P.O. Box 16040, Havana City 11600, Cuba; E-Mail: taniac@cim.sld.cu * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: lage@cim.sld.cu; Tel.: +53-7-2714335; Fax: +53-7-2720644. Received: 28 December 2010; in revised form: 28 January 2011 / Accepted: 11 February 2011 / Published: 1 March 2011 Abstract: Despite the recent trend toward a slight decrease in age-adjusted cancer mortality in some countries, crude mortality rates will continue to increase, driven by the demographic shift towards an aged population. Small molecules (small molecules and biologics) are not only a new therapeutic acquisition, but the tools of a more fundamental transition: the transformation of cancer from a rapidly fatal disease into a chronic condition. Antibodies and cancer vaccines can be used for a long time, even beyond progressive disease, and in aged patients, usually unfit for more aggressive conventional treatments. However, this transition to chronicity will