Chemoprevention

Definition

Chemoprevention involves the use, in healthy people, of natural or laboratory-made substances to prevent cancer or reduce cancer risk both in high-risk individuals and in the general population. The aim is to reduce the cancer burden in humans. Most work is being done to reduce the risk for oral cancer, prostate cancer (see “Prostate Cancer Clinical Oncology”), cervical cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and breast cancer. The first chemopreventive agent to reach the clinic – and possibly the best known – was tamoxifen, which has been shown to cut breast cancer incidence in high-risk women by 50 %. It was followed by finasteride, found to reduce prostate cancer (see “Prostate Cancer Clinical Oncology”) incidence by 25 % in men at high risk for the disease. However, the large-scale trials that confirmed these benefits brought to light a troublesome issue: the drugs caused serious side effects in some patients. This is an issue of particular concern when considering...