COMING TO GRIPS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 69, 18 September 1930, Page 9

COMING TO GRIPS

CANCER RESEARCH

FEELING OF CONFIDENCE

k SEEUM WITH MICE

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 11th July. "The enemy is being unmasked, and '.he D&vlle grows fiercer from day to 4ay. - Shall it be said that the hour of "ietory was delayed because the necessary supplies wore wanting?"

This is the dramatic conclusion to iho annual report of the British Empire i'ancer Campaign, the annual meeting if which will be presided over by the Suke of York ia the House of Lords lext Monday. Now that a branch »f the campaign has been established :a New Zealand, some excerpts from \he report will be all the more interesting- • To-day the campaign deserves its lame (says the report)., There is a leadquarters staff, an intelligence dewrtnient, and a system of co-ordination \y which duplication and waste of efiort is reduced to the smallest possible proportions. The result has been an immense and immediate gain in effectiveness, workers can now learn what tther workers have been doing with sase and without delay, and the fruit si research in one area is made availible at once in all other areas. Fur)her, personal relations between workers are fostered, thereby tending to frequent and frank discussion upon various cancer problems.

Cancer of the skin and breast can | now be produced experimentally ■in Mice with almost absolute certainty. There has thus become available an immense mass of material for the use of those who are trying to enlarge tlie frontiers of knowledge; They have seized their opportunity. Causes of ean<fer, formerly scarcely suspected, have Been discovered, and conditions which govern the growth of tumours are being diligently' worked out. In addition, aaethrids of treatment of various kinds are being tried. While, therefore, it Cannot be said that the campaign has as yet won a great victory, no reasonable doubt can exisi; that it has brought the day of victory nearer, perhaps much nearer. The ground has been cleared; new weapous, forged by pioneer hands, have been served out to all the combatants, new opportunities have Seen created, and new services of supply and information brought into being. DEFINITE KADITJM EESTOTS. Generally speaking the tendency of those using radium as a therapeutic agent seems to be to employ smalle ' doses with increased_ screening ovo. . longer periods, as it is found that bet- j t;er results are obtained by this mean fioth in respect of the disappearance i growths and in that of the preserv. tion of normal tissues from damage. Some of the best results are got by fhe methods known as interstitial needling of the base and edges 6f the growth', combined with the use of Radium in surface applicators held in position by shields made of wax. The best results have been obtained in cander of the cervix uteri, and very good reports appear from a number of centres where radium is being used in fbe treatment of this condition. Good results, too, are being obtained in cancer of the mouth, tongue, and pharynx. Since cancer of the womb accounts for something liko one-fifth of all cancer mortality amongst women, and cancer 6f the month accounts for' something like one-tenth of all cancer mortality amongst men, it is clear that the annual cancer mortality in both sexes should show a substantial reduction so soon as the public, by presenting themselves for treatment at the earliest possible moment, take full advantage of this method of relief and euro for cancer. Eadium is being used also in flic- eratinent of cancer of the breast, the treatment of cancer of the breast, ful. In other'parts of the body results are less satisfactory, though those obtained in the treatment of cancer of the rectum show a decided improvement upon last year. While it has to be stated that many of the results obtained aro very disappointing when judged by the standard of absolute, cure, and that surgical removal still offers the best hope in all but a few areas of the body, there can be iio doubt that the results of radium •treatment are improving steadily. In At least'three..areas, namely, the skin, the .cervix uteri, and the floor of,the Hiouth, "the results of treatment by iadium, are actually better than those of treatment by operation. It seems, therefore, reasonable to predict that, in the near future, and as a . consequence of further experience in the use of radium, marked ■ improvement will be obtained. ■ IMMTOJITY TO CANCER. It has been shown that immunity against cancer can be produced in rats and mice by injecting into theso anir xnals a serum obtained, by special process, from other animals. This work was begun upon rats and mice bearing implanted tumours—that is to say,',tumours which had been deliberately grafted into their bodies. These tumours were cured with a very liigh degree of certainty, but, since they are notoriously more easy to get rid of than tumours arising spontaneously after the fashion of cancer in the human body, it has been determined to extend the work to this latter type of growth before attempting to draw conclusions. It should be noted that, in the case of implanted tumours, the selum treatment not only effects a cure but also, at the same time, produces immunity so-that no further successful implantations of tumours can be carried out upon these animals. The chief difficulty attending tho Rtudy" of spontaneous tumours' is the difficulty of obtaining' animals afflicted liy them. This has now, however, been surmounted. "A strain of mice, some 94 per cent, "of the females of which develop inamary cancers, lias been obtained from America, through the kindness of Dr. Burton Simpson, of Buffalo, who obtained it by inbreeding from tumourbearing parents for some thirty to forty generations. In November, ID2B, six females and three males of this strain reached England. They have been bred with great caro and Ihcir progeny now numbets. about ono thousand. Of the original, six females one died of pneumonia; the other five have now all deTslopcd spontaneous cancers. These cancers grow rather slowly, but they go on growing and always cause deatli in about three to four months, producing meanwhile secondary growths exactly in the manner of cancerous tumours in man. It is too early as yet to say whether or not "auto vaccination" will prove effective in the case of these spontaneous tumours; indeed, a year or longer may be required in order to determine the point. There is, however, some hope of success. If the results obtained seem to justify tho step, treatment of human cases will be undertaken at the earliest moment. Some evidence is forthcoming that the livers of rats affected by cancer acquire an enhanced immunising powor. It has been shown that the developmont of cancers of tlio skin bears some relationship to injuriofi of tlinfc tissue. Oases are recorded of I'lso niipcwaucc of i-.anccr at tlis sites of Imnis, scald?l, ulcers, and wounds, aiicl nine instances

of cancers arising in war wounds have been observed. All these cases were characterised by evidence of ineffective attempts at healing of tho original wound. BIOCHEMICAL FACTORS. A large number of experiments have been carried out to discover, if possible, any definito chemical difference between the growth of normal tissue and the growth of tumour tissue. The striking fact that there is an excessive formation of lactic acid in the growth of cancer cells, as compared with normal cells, is now recognised. Warburg showed, moreover, that a distinguishing feature of cancerous growths is the power they possess to obtain energy for their needs by breaking down sugar (dextrose) to lactic acid in the presence or in tho absence of oxygen. Work has be«n done to obtain light, on the manner in which tho lactic acid is formed and it has been found that extracts of the pancreas have a powerful action in stopping the production of lactic acid from sugar. These experiments are still largely of an academic nature, but are clearly of profound significance and may, at any time, ofier a practical method of attacking cancer in a direction not formerly considered. The suggestion has been made that cancer is caused by a poison naturally soluble in fat, which poison is present in the body for a long period before it begins to exert its effect. Were it possible to isolate this toxin the means of treating cancer might, it is further suggested, be brought within reach. It appears that the chemical substance known as "mustard gas" possesses powers of preventing the onset oi cancer in areas ot the skin to. which cancer-producing tars have been applied. The action of the mustard gas is Realised to the particular area and i ctly limited in time, but is none less on that account a remarkable one. The mustard gas does not prevent the active growth of skin which follows the application of tar and precedes the formation of cancer. It seems, therefore, to bo the first true anti-carcinogenic agent ever discovered.