Chemoprevention with naturally occurring agents shows promise

doi:10.1136/bmj.324.7339.0/e

Chemoprevention with naturally occurring agents shows promise

Chemoprevention with naturally occurring and synthetic agents shows promise for preventing, arresting, and reversing cancerdevelopment. Chemoprevention agents must have low toxicities comparedwith chemotherapeutic agents used in cancer patients. In his clinicalreview, Greenwald (p 714) recommends that doctors should identifypatients at high risk of cancer who might benefit from participationin chemoprevention trials. Validation of surrogate end point biomarkersis essential to reduce size and duration of chemoprevention trials.Greenwald also recommends that doctors emphasise cancer preventionin addition to cancer treatment and cure as it is a multistagedisease, not a single event.