ALTHOUGH acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), cholesterol, and drug abuse have grabbed recent science news headlines, cancer quietly persists as the number two killer in the United States. This might explain the air of exigency surrounding presentations by cancer experts at the American Medical Association's (AMA) Eighth Annual Science Reporters Conference.
The 3-day conference was appropriately located in Houston, Tex, where part of the continuing war against cancer is being waged with extensive research and therapeutic efforts. A number of conference presentations dealt with novel approaches to cancer prevention and treatment, ranging from genetic therapy for cancer, targeting of anticancer drugs, the relationship between nutrition and cancer, to cancer vaccines.
Cancer Vaccines
David Hohn, MD, associate professor of surgery at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas, Houston, compares the concept of immunizing individuals against cancer with strategies for the prevention of polio or measles. A vaccine against malignant