CHEMOTHERAPY OF MALIGNANT NEOPLASTIC DISEASES

Abstract

Chemotherapy of cancer has been studied intensively in recent years. Attempts to inhibit tumor growth by means of drugs have been made since ancient times, but not until the last decade have potent carcinolytic compounds been discovered which can be tolerated by animals and human beings in at least partially effective doses. The enormous literature which has now accumulated on this subject has been summarized in several recent reviews.¹Drugs which have aroused a great deal of interest include Serratia marcescens (Bacillus prodigiosus) polysaccharide, KR (carcinolytic substance of Trypanosoma cruzi, named after Klyueva and Roskin), antireticular cytotoxic serum (ACS), stilbamidine (4,4′-stilbenedicarboxamidine) and ethylstibamine (neostibosan®), folic acid conjugates, folic acid antagonists, urethane and the nitrogen mustards (2-chloroethyl amines). The data available at present indicate that all but the last three of these substances are either biologically inactive or are too toxic to be practical for clinical application. Neither the radioactive