Cancer is one of the oldest diseases seen in human specimens, quite possibly the oldest, the quest for its cure having begun some 4,000 years ago. However, it was fleetingly rare, hidden by other illnesses such as cholera, dropsy, leprosy, plague, pneumonia, smallpox, and tuberculosis. As these diseases were vanquished, and as the human lifespan lengthens, cancer has emerged. Many diseases are lumped together under the denomination "cancer," because...