The world of cancer research, including that of cancer prevention, is one in which we often feel like asking, "Do you want to hear the good news first or the bad news?"
This week, as we write this and go to press, there is indeed good news to report, as the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded in part to Harald zur Hausen, who discovered that human papillomavirus (HPV) caused cervical cancer. This sensational discovery, now 25 years old, has culminated in a remarkable cancer prevention outcome, a vaccine against HPV, now being implemented in the US and worldwide that should ultimately lead to reductions in the incidence and mortality of both cervical cancer and a number of other anogenital cancers.
And what about the bad news? While there are indeed many cancers for which we have made striking inroads in terms of prevention – cervical cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, gastric cancer – there remain several extremely fatal malignancies which remain relatively unaffected by our best scientific efforts. Prominent among them is pancreatic cancer. Aside from known relationships between cigarette smoking, obesity and risk of pancreatic cancer, we know virtually nothing about how to prevent this disease, which carries nearly a 100% mortality rate.
In this issue of our newsletter, Dr. Gloria Petersen addresses the genetics of pancreatic cancer. This has been one of the few recent inroads into this tumor. Perhaps insights from this area of research will help to form a platform for future discoveries. The greatest journey begins with the first step – perhaps a few years from now, we will be able to give a new answer when there is a question about whether there is good news to report.
The Editors
Andrew J. Dannenberg, M.D.
Henry R. Erle, MD-Roberts Family Professor of Medicine
Weill Cornell Medical College
Co-Director, Cancer Prevention Program
NewYork-Presbyterian Cancer Centers
Director of Cancer Center
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center
Alfred I. Neugut, M.D., Ph.D.
Myron M. Studner Professor of Cancer Research
Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology
Associate Director for Population Sciences
Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
and Mailman School of Public Health
Co-Director, Cancer Prevention Program
NewYork-Presbyterian Cancer Centers
