This is the first-anniversary issue of Nature Reviews Cancer. Over the past year, we have strived to provide articles that cover a variety of cancer types, from brain tumours to colorectal cancer; causes, from oncogene and tumour-suppressor defects to viruses and bacteria; diagnostics, from molecular imaging to genetic analysis; and therapies, from chemotherapy to gene therapy. We also made a point to cover social aspects in our Perspectives section, publishing articles on subjects such as the development of comprehensive cancer centres, breast cancer activism and the effects of the Chernobyl disaster. The overall goal of these articles is to keep our readers informed of the latest issues in cancer research, whether they exist at the genetic, molecular, cellular, clinical or political level. Clinical researchers therefore have a place to go to learn more about the molecular basis of cancer, and basic researchers to see how their work progresses into the clinic.

This approach to cancer research becomes more relevant each year, as more rationally designed drugs and targeted therapies enter clinical trials. As discussed by Robert Kerbel and Judah Folkman on page 727, the communication between the basic and clinical researcher is more important now than ever. When a cancer drug 'fails' in a clinical trial, clinicians are learning to turn to basic researchers for explanations ? was the drug used to treat the wrong type of cancer, or administered at the wrong time, or its efficacy monitored with the wrong end points? And, in designing cancer therapeutic strategies, basic researchers turn to clinicians to inform them of the greatest areas of patient need and obstacles to treatment. We hope that over the next 12 months we will continue to aid this dialogue, and help to bridge the gap between the bench and the clinic.