The war on cancer: Lessons from the war on terror

Abstract

The war metaphor has become commonplace in discussions about our endeavor to find a cure for cancer. But beyond the power of imagery, this analogy offers the opportunity to highlight lessons that warriors of cancer can learn from the warriors of terror: That more efficient killing of the undesired cells may not always be better. Evidence suggesting that drug-stressed and dying cancer cells can drive tumor progression is almost as old as cancer therapy. But like in warfare until recently, the primary focus in cancer therapy has been, and still is, on how to more efficiently kill.