Nobel prizes in physiology or medicine: more in cancer?

摘要

The award of the Nobel prize this year to Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider, and Jack Szostak for their work on chromosomal protection by telomeres is yet another in a long string of Nobel prizes for cancer-related discoveries. Certainly the focus on cancer research has increased dramatically in the past several decades, as the specificity of this journal attests. Advances in basic research and in laboratory and clinical technology have paved the way for experimentation that was not possible even 10 years ago. Also, the increasing prominence of cancer among fatal diseases has raised the interest of scientists and public alike. Finally, cancer is arguably the most feared of all serious diseases because of its relentless nature and the slow progress toward definitive cures in manytypes.