The pathophysiology, cell proliferation kinetics and metastasis of cancers and their responses to the currently employed therapies are increasingly being understood in terms of their genetic control mechanisms. Parallel genetic investigations are being aggressively pursued for normal tissue systems. The resultant greatly enhanced understanding is leading to clinically useful predictors of prognosis and the beginnings of new therapeutic strategies so as to augment the differential effect on tumour and normal tissues. This includes not only manoeuvres which deploy the currently available treatment methods with greater effect, but also the intro­ duction into the clinic of conceptually different treatment strategies, with the potential of great positive impact. Development in the field of basic genetics of cancer biology, cell cycle control, angiogenesis, immunology, etc. have been extraordinarily rapid with exceptional importance to medicine. This area has attracted some of the keenest intellects and greatest enthusiasm in biology and medicine. To illustrate the vigour and the growth rate of the research activity in this area, note that the numbers of journal articles published with the words gene and cancer (carcinoma, sarcoma, neoplasm, tumour) in the title or abstract for 1975 was 14 and for 1995 was 14 593. This number has increased dramatically over the past two decades. The entire field of oncology (clinical and laboratory) has, likewise, been growing at a remarkable pace.