T.A. Connors – författare

It was a great pleasure and honour to have been invited to attend this Seminar and to present a final impression. The association in this field between the Chester Beatty Research Institute and Dr. Rosenberg''s School at East Lansing is something which I specially value and many would doubtless like to know how it came about. In the course of its work in carcinogenesis and on chemotherapy over many years, the Chester Beatty Research Institute was frequently drawn to the importance of many metals - as for example lead, iron, metalloid arsenic and the metalloid quali­ ties of the carcinogenic hydrocarbons. Interest started in platinum many years ago, following the possibility, c1aimed by others, that various complexes between the metal and mercaptopurine might possess significant chemotherapeutic properties. Va­ rious attempts to confirm such findings ended, however, in complete failure. Interest in platinum was revived by the fresh observations of Dr. Rosenberg and his collea­ gues, and here the outcome was entirely different. Very soon it was possible to con­ firm the intense growth-inhibitory properties of cis-platinum (II) diamminedi­ chloride and related substances. After communicating these results to Dr. Rosenberg, it was a pleasure to welcome hirn in London where he gave a Seminar which greatly engaged the interest of many of the staff. Later, several of these were to enjoy Dr. Rosenberg''s hospitality at an international conference on the subject to be held in East Lansing, where many rapidly developing aspects were open for discussion.

It was a great pleasure and honour to have been invited to attend this Seminar and to present a final impression. The association in this field between the Chester Beatty Research Institute and Dr. Rosenberg's School at East Lansing is something which I specially value and many would doubtless like to know how it came about. In the course of its work in carcinogenesis and on chemotherapy over many years, the Chester Beatty Research Institute was frequently drawn to the importance of many metals - as for example lead, iron, metalloid arsenic and the metalloid quali­ ties of the carcinogenic hydrocarbons. Interest started in platinum many years ago, following the possibility, c1aimed by others, that various complexes between the metal and mercaptopurine might possess significant chemotherapeutic properties. Va­ rious attempts to confirm such findings ended, however, in complete failure. Interest in platinum was revived by the fresh observations of Dr. Rosenberg and his collea­ gues, and here the outcome was entirely different. Very soon it was possible to con­ firm the intense growth-inhibitory properties of cis-platinum (II) diamminedi­ chloride and related substances. After communicating these results to Dr. Rosenberg, it was a pleasure to welcome hirn in London where he gave a Seminar which greatly engaged the interest of many of the staff. Later, several of these were to enjoy Dr. Rosenberg's hospitality at an international conference on the subject to be held in East Lansing, where many rapidly developing aspects were open for discussion.

The Workshop series of the "Koningin Wilhelmina Fonds" is a feature of the interest of this Foundation to promote research and education in the field of cancer, aiming to improve prognosis of the cancer patient. For almost a century, surgery has now been the main treatment modality for the cancer patient. During the past 50 years radiation therapy has developed as a second important modality of treatment. However, neither of the two modalities are able to cure the majority of cancer patients, as the disease is so often metastasized at presentation. Cancer chemotherapy is a modality which does have the potential to cure patients with this advanced stage of disease. In recent years the three modalities have been combined more and more, and here is one of the reasons why the prospectives for the cancer patient have improved so much. In addition, certain types of cancers, such as testicular car­ cinoma, childhood tumors, choriocarcinoma, non Hodgkin lymphomas and others, can now indeed often be cured by chemotherapy alone, even if the disease is advanced. The combination of drugs and the use of new drugs have greatly contributed to this development. There are two main groups of new drugs: analogs and new structures. A great number of analogs of conventional structures have been developed during the past ten years. A typical example of this group is adriamycin, which is an analog of dau­ nomycin.