Perspective: The big C — for Chemoprevention

Human Genetics and Clinical Aspects of Neurodevelopmental Disorders

“…This is akin to 50 years ago when people simply stated that someone had 'cancer'. Now, it is not useful to say only that someone has cancer, as there are literally hundreds of molecular etiologies for cancer, divided up not only by organ expression but also by specific pathways in the cell [106]. We anticipate that in 50 years, these terms 'schizophrenia' and 'bipolar' will be replaced by much more precise molecularly defined terms, as is occurring now in the cancer field [107,108].…”

“…Prevention of illness through environmental modification has been, and likely always will be, the major driver for global health [106,108]. With this in mind, the sequencing of whole genomes on a large scale promises to enable prediction of disease in some individuals.…”

“…Unfortunately, the general approach to cancer has ignored such common sense. The vast majority of cancer research is devoted to finding cures, rather than finding new ways to prevent disease" [106].…”

Cancer Prevention and Interception: A New Era for Chemopreventive Approaches

“…prevention approaches associated with higher risk for side effects. Combinations of chemoprevention drugs should also be considered (3,20). We are moving toward an era of personalized prevention and interception where several opportunities for stratified risk assessment can lead to effective risk reduction at individual level (21).…”

“…An ideal chemopreventive agent is a compound that can be administrated for extended periods of time to phenotypically healthy subjects without the occurrence of significant side effects. More intense chemoprevention strategies, although with a more risk for side effects, are suitable for people with higher risk of developing cancer: those with inherited cancer syndromes or family history of cancer, individuals with extensive carcinogen exposure, and patients with a previous cancer (2,3). A more recent emerging concept is "cancer interception": this means to actively interrupt a cancer development process at early stages before the tumor presents with clinical relevance ( Fig.…”