To target cancer cells with novel therapies, scientists and physicians needed new vulnerabilities that were unique to cancer. The discoveries of cancer biology in the 1980s offered a vastly more nuanced view of these vulnerabilities. Three new principles emerged, representing three new Achilles’ heels of cancer. First, cancer cells are driven to grow because of the accumulation of mutations in their DNA. These mutations activate internal proto-oncogenes and inactivate tumor suppressor genes, thus unleashing the “accelerators” and “brakes” that operate during normal cell division. Targeting
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