Future possibilities for the development of treatments of leukemia.

after the event as an historian than before the event as a prophet. â€oeIt is therefore a formidable task even to at tempt crystal gazing at a time when so much work directed toward a solution of the problem under discussion is in progress all over the world. A good prophet is a person who has taken in all the relevant and established facts of a case and has digested them properly. Then from his computing mind may jump, like Pallas Athene out of the head of her father Zeus, a well-armed idea or ideas, which may prove to represent reliable forecasts for the future. This contribution to this symposium is based on the authors' restricted knowledge of this field, and in specu lating about the future developments of leukemia treat ments, they must stick out their necks and be prepared to have their heads chopped off even by their kindest col leagues. As far as we are aware, the gulf between chronic and acute fornis of leukemia may not be as wide or deep as textbooks convey. The situation is complex; further more, it seems that the dividing line between the various forms of acute leukemia†" myelogenous, lymphoid, mono cytic†" is sometimes not so sharply defined as the clinician or hematologist may wish for his diagnostic and prognostic considerations or for his choice of therapy. It is outside our competence to take sides, and an attempt is made 1st to assess the past, present, and future status of the bio chemical and biologic base lines of acute leukemias, ex trapolating where necessary from considerations of the chronic disorders. In this way it may be possible to find leads to potentially more effective therapies of this group of diseases. Although the causative or etiologic factors ought to play an important part in assisting the search for improved methods of treatment, we are refraining from any detailed discussion on such leukemogenic studies in the framework of this paper. The same applies to the physiologic role of leukocytes. For information on these aspects of the overall problem, readers should consult extensive reviews such as those of Hayhoe (30) and Bun dette (13). BIOCHEMICAL BASIS The biochemist has tended to look for metabolic differ ennces at the molecular level between leukemic and con respomiding normal cells, as has been done with the celLs of other camicerous diseases, hoping to discover some …