Taming Cancer: 21st Century Biology and the Future of Cancer Medicine

In a story arc covering two centuries of biological discovery, a biochemist and immunologist with 38 years of experience developing cutting-edge cancer medicines tells the fascinating origin story of today's astonishing new drugs that are changing the paradigm of cancer medicine. Whereas highly toxic treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation have long been the mainstays of cancer medicine, we have entered a new era in which more effective and less toxic immunotherapies and precision targeted drugs are becoming increasingly available, thereby improving both the duration and quality of life for cancer sufferers. 

What makes this book special is its insider perspective: Dr.Kelner explains the science with metaphors and illustrations that make complex ideas approachable, while recounting episodes from his own career—most notably his role in bringing two first-in-class immunotherapies to patients. Taming Cancer is an accessible roadmap that sends a message of hope to cancer patients and their families, culminating with the author’s vision of a future (perhaps by mid-century) when a diagnosis of metastatic cancer is no longer a harbinger of impending suffering and death. Rather, it will be a time when cancer can be managed as a chronic disease like diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. For the most responsive patients, the eradication of cancer cells from the body—the long-sought cure for metastatic cancer—will become a more commonplace event for larger numbers of cancer sufferers.

Expertly written for readers interested in developing a conceptual understanding of cancer and the exciting new medicines that are available to confront it, the book also provides extensive scientific commentary in the endnotes for biology students, medical and graduate students, physicians, scientists, nurses, allied health care professionals, and anyone else interested in learning more about the mysterious realm of the human cancer cell.