CANCER RESEARCH

Hokitika Guardian, 6 January 1932, Page 3

CANCER RESEARCH

DEFICIENCY OF COPPER. CLUE TO POSSIBLE CURE. WASHINGTON, Dee. 12. Cancer may ho associated in some way with deficiency of copper in the body, according to results of experiments just reported from the National Institute of Health here. it was found by the Public Health Service chemists that when' amoebas were placed in solutions containing extremely dilute copper salt solutions —as little as one part in 500,000,000 — the process of cell division by which an amoeba colony increased was almost stopped. There was a great reduction in the growth of the nuclei of the bodies of these one-eelled animals, increase in the size of wlncli causes the tiny creatures to split and

become twu animals, Obeli growing and splitting in turn. Now, the growth of a cancer is roughly analogous to the growth of an amoeba colony. It consists of the splitting of the cells, making two where there were only one before. For that matter, all biological growth depends on the same principle, but in malignant tumours the splitting is accelerated and unrestrained. Growth of everything else in the body is under some sort of delicate control, the nature of which is not understood, so that it never can get out of bounds. , INCREASE ACCELERATED. Discovery of the inhibitory action of copper is especially important- because of the other side of the picture, previously worked out by the Public Health Service chemists. One of the cell constituents of human and animal bodies is a complicated chemical substance known as glutathione. When minute quantities of tins substance are placed in a solution containing an amoeba colony, :t was found that the rate of increase of the little animals was greatly accelerated. It increased the growth of the nucleus and seemed to facilitate division.

Body cells and amoebas are not very far apart in their fundamental •nature* The essential difference .:s that the first are citizens of such a closely-knit society that, instead of being separate animals, many millions of them combine to form one animal, while the amoeba iS an individual in its own right. Analysis of living tissues shows that nearly all of .them contain minute amounts of copper—so much so that it recently has been recognised as probably a fundamental constituent of protoplasm. The amount varies somewhat from organ to organ, presumably in keeping with the requirement'. From the National Institute experiments, it appears that copper and glutathione may he two fundamental balancing factors, one making the cells divide and the other stopping them from dividing too much. So the effect of the two substances on each other was studied. The copper was found to change inarkedlv the properties of the other material.

STUDY OF HYDROGEN-lON. Chemists of the National Institute, it is announced, are developing a device which will make possible measurement of the important hvdrogenlon concentration in tumours and in normal tissues. This may open up a new i;oad to* the understanding of cancer action. llydrogen-ion formation is accompanied by the formation of lactic acid, and the theory lias 'been advanced that' excesses of tlr.s substance may he responsible for the ability of a tumour to penetrate into other tissues-

Another link in the chain of cancer research being conducted hy Public Health Service biologists is n mechanism that may make cancer cells talk—and possibly tell s«nie hitherto impenetrable secrets. This device depends on a recent European discovery not universally accepted by biologists—that all dividing cells emit a peculiar sort of radiation, with a wave length .somewhere between that of ultra-violet light and ordinary X-rays. The nature of these socalled rays’’ thrown off by living matter, together with that of the mysterious cosmic rays from outer space, thus far has eluded physicists. INVISIBLE LIGHT. All growth is a matter of cell divis:oii, and ajpprcntl.v every time mi' cell splits into two a tiny bit. of invisible 'light of great penetrating power is produced. A peculiarity of the cells of malignant tumours is that their rate of division is accelerated and uncontrolled, while they force the rest of the hotly to yield them blood supply and nourishment. The mystery ol cancel appears largely associated w’ith the underlying jdiysico-ehcinica I tueei" nism of cell division and its possible alcormalit ies. The device is described by Assistant Surgeon-General L. 11. Thomp.on. in charge ol scientific research for the Public Health Service, in his annual . II is an amplification of an extremely sensitive apparatus i‘>r <h‘tr, ting and measuring very sit all 11 tin it til ies ol radiation Ihe mm ailed Geiger counter tube. It consists essentially of a photo-elect rie cell which, by speual choice ol materials can he

made specially'setrsitivwTO radiation in

the ultra violet pb'rtTon' of tiie spectrum.

Electrical impulses caused by the entrance of radiation through the quartz window of this,, photo-electric cell can. according to the Public Health Service description,-, “be amplified in an amplifier of special design so that they may he made audible by the use of a loud speaker, or ipoy operate a counting device which,.-. records numerically the impulses, resulting Irom the incident radjatio,^.,” WILL FIT RAY IN SPECTRUM, With this instrument, the Pubic Health Service biologists:'.will try to determine whether mitogenetic ,'radii ation is a realitv, or whether t:.e re- •? lii> : W\. ported European results may not have been due to observational errors. If tliev succeed in establishing the actuality of the rays, they will try to place them definitely in the light spectrum, presumably somewhere towards the end of the ultra-violet. Then they will be able to make exact measurements or the variations in such radiation from different sorts of dividing cells, including those of malignant tumours. One notable discovery is reported—but it is stressed that it applies to one kind of malignant tumour in mice, and that inferences cannot he drawn as to the effect in other kinds, such as various types of cancers in human beings. It had been observed that, once one of, these malignant growths was cured by use of high frequnecy currents:, the animal sometimes became iniiminemto re-innocillation with the tumour. '.fhat| is. one cancer produced an imtminitv to others, opening the way to a search for some possible immunising serum.It has been found.'tliat this particular cancer can fie transplanted fromjJ one rat into the tail of another, where) it grows slowly, without' 'miteli effect on the rest of the body. After giving the tumour a reasonable time to ded eve lop. the tail is amputated. Then, in about 70 per cent of the casie.%- -it is found impossible to transpiii'.nf ■ a tumour to any other part of the -hotly. It constitutes a s°mewhat heroic cancer vaccine therapy—for fats. ’’Room temperature also was found th“ have a notable effect on this soft'of' rat cancer In warm cages, the tail cancels grew rapidly; in'cold'cages,‘‘the growth was much slower. •! ..