New directions in childhood cancer therapy.

Lorrie F. Odom, MD, is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Oncology/Hematology Division at the Children’s Hospital in Denver, Colorado. ~ The merging of evolving technologies and thera’ pies with the practice of pediatric oncology provides the foundation for exciting frontiers in this field. Major advances in basic science, diagnostic and prognostic techniques, therapeutic modalities, and supportive therapy all contribute to the future direction of pediatric oncology. Immunology and molecular biology are two areas of basic science in which rapid progress is especially relevant to this field. Increased understanding of hematopoiesis and cellular and humoral immunity makes possible the specific manipulation or augmentation of these mechanisms using, for example, biologic response modifiers, cytotoxic T cells, or passive administration of immunoglobulins. Burgeoning development in molecular biology, with improved understanding of cell proliferation, chromosome fragile sites and non-random breakpoints, proto-oncogenes, and mapping and function of specific genes, is contributing to the understand-