Advanced tumors cannot be cured with single drugs. They oftenare resistant to single agents, and even if they are initiallysensitive, their molecular heterogeneity usually guaranteesthe secondary outgrowth of rare cells that are resistant. Incontrast, drug combinations can cure specific types of cancerseven at advanced stages; this observation has spurred the developmentof combination chemotherapy for most types of cancer duringthe past half century. Examples of effective therapeutic combinationsinclude doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazinefor Hodgkin's lymphoma and bleomycin, etoposide, and cisplatinfor testicular cancer. Most combinations seldom cure disease,however, and their identification . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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From the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School — both in Boston; and the Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute — both in Cambridge, MA.
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