Each year more than 14 million people are diagnosed with cancer and the number of new cases is expected to rise by 70% over the next two decades. Many different treatments have been devised to kill cancerous cells. Some block DNA replication in the cell, some directly damage the DNA while others prevent cell division. However all of these therapies remain massively invasive: they require catheters to deliver the chemotherapies and often have to be combined with radiotherapy and surgery. Also, many current drugs are nonselective - they kill healthy cells as well as cancerous cells. Cancer treatment remains very unpleasant and the search for new and better chemotherapy drugs is a major goal for biotechnology researchers.
展开▼
