众所周知,预防和治疗癌症是远非药物所能解决的问题。虽然外科手术、放射疗法和化学疗法能够治愈一部分癌症病人,但这些疗法在大多数病例中仍不能令人满意。免疫疗法还刚刚开始,因此寻找治疗癌症的新途径仍迫在眉睫。本文介绍与癌症有关的类视黄素的新进展。“类视黄素”(Retinoid)这一术语代表天然维生素A化合物和它们的合成类似物。维生素A与癌人们熟知,维生素A对于全身发育、上皮组织的分化、视觉功能和生殖的重要性。然而,维生素A与癌的关系早在1926年就引 It is known to all that prevention and treatment of cancer are far beyond the reach of drugs. Although surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy can cure a subset of cancer patients, these therapies are not satisfactory in most cases. Immunotherapy has just begun, so looking for new ways to treat cancer is still imminent. This article describes new advances in cancer-related retinoids. The term “Retinoid” refers to natural vitamin A compounds and their synthetic analogs. Vitamin A is well known to cancers and the importance of vitamin A for generalized development, epithelial differentiation, visual function and reproduction. However, the relationship between vitamin A and cancer as early as 1926 cited