ABSTRACT
The rationale behind cancer chemoprevention lies upon the notion that the multistep process of carcinogenesis can be modulated, arrested, or reversed by natural or synthetic agents. Chemoprevention can be divided into primary, where the goal is to prevent the development of the disease in high-risk healthy populations; secondary, to treat a population with a premalignant condition, thereby blocking the development of cancer; and tertiary, to protect against second primary tumors in subjects cured of an initial cancer.
