Toxicity antagonists in cancer therapy.

Modern cancer therapy produces substantial acute and chronic toxicity which impairs quality of life and limits the effectiveness of treatment. Recent clinical and laboratory data suggest that repair of treatment-related injury is a multiphase and continuous process providing multiple opportunities for pharmacologic intervention. A host of agents (toxicity antagonists) are under development that modulate normal tissue response or interfere with mechanisms of toxicity. Although significant challenges remain, the routine application of such agents promises to substantially reduce treatment related morbidity and potentially allow treatment intensification in high-risk disease.