About Cancer

Cancer is wild, unrestrained growth of cells. Some disturbance occurs which disrupts the balance of cells of different kinds in the body. The cells seem to return to their primitive state or to the infantile or fetal type. The body of a baby before birth grows much faster than does a cancer, but the growth of the cells in the developing child is controlled or regulated by an internal mechanism.

Many substances have the ability to stimulate the growth of cells. Pure chemicals, glandular substances, or physical forces like heat or pressure may stimulate cell growth. The changes that initiate the sudden, rapid growth of cancer cells and the traveling of these cells into other parts of the body involve many different factors related to the chemistry of the body, its nutrition, damage to tissues by inflammation and infection, and modifications of growth brought about by glandular action. A variety of chemical products, particularly those related to tar, are known to be able to stimulate the growth of cancer. In tropical areas white people who do not protect themselves against the sun develop cancer in amounts out of all proportion to that which occurs among the native people with darker skins. To a large extent farmers also, as well as sailors, suffer from cancers of the skin.

Irritation is still a basic factor in the production of cancer. Continuous, rubbing, irritation by irregular or jagged teeth, and heat from a pipe carried always in one comer of the mouth are known to be types of irritation that can excite the growth of cancer.

Suspicious Symptoms

Certain symptoms are suspicious and should be given serious consideration. Not long ago a state cancer organization asked 158 people with cancer why they had delayed so long in seeking medical attention with their problem. One half of them said that they had not taken it seriously. Two had hesitated because they were afraid of cancer and two because they were afraid of doctors. Ten per cent said that they just had not bothered about it, and another 10 per cent were afraid that it would cost them something to see the doctor. This information is enlightening, since we know that hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved today if people would just bring their symptoms soon enough to the attention of competent physicians and surgeons.

Whenever a lump appears underneath the surface of the body and does not go away the symptom must be considered suspicious. Whenever there is bleeding or a discharge, from any portion of the body, that is not easily explainable the symptom is a warning sign. Whenever a sore or rubbed area in the body does not heal promptly, investigation should be made immediately. Cancers that may be seen and felt easily are those on the skin, in the mouth, or in the breast. Women are much less likely to suffer cancers of the skin than are men, because women are much more careful about the appearance of the surface of the body. Men suffer more cancers of the mouth than do women. Cancers of the breast, however, are far more frequent in women than in men. The most frequent cancers which cannot be seen or felt but which warn of their presence by unusual symptoms such as bleeding and discharges are cancers of the urinary bladder, the kidney, or the organs concerned in childbirth.

Pain is a relatively late symptom in cancer. Pain is likely to cause people to seek medical attention promptly; but other symptoms usually come before pain. Cancers which cannot be seen and which do not give any external signs of their presence are those of the stomach, the bowels, or the lungs. Hoarseness that persists more than a short time, and particularly hoarseness that does not go away after the voice has been rested, may be considered a danger signal. Many a man with serious symptoms affecting his stomach satisfies himself with a dose of baking soda. This is like pouring water on a fire bell when the fire is burning in the house.

Diagnostic Tests

Investigators are using several diagnostic tests for cancer, as the Wassermann test is used in syphilis. If it can be found that these changes in the serum of the blood come early in the disease and can be quickly detected, an intensive search can be made for the manifestations of cancer in the body.

Research

Certain substances of the nature of folic acid have been found capable of stimulating the growth of body cells. Cancer, too, is an excessively rapid overgrowth of body cells. Other substances have been found which act against folic acid in this activity. The scientists are determining the value of anti-folic compounds as a treatment of such conditions as acute leukemia in which there is excessive growth of the white cells of the blood.

Outstanding among results of medical research in 1949 was the perfection of ACTH, the adrenocorticotropic hormone, and its use against a variety of conditions, including certain forms of overgrowth of cells in the body. This substance, derived from the pituitary gland, has the power to stimulate the cortex, or outer portion of the adrenal gland to produce and put into the blood certain hormones. Among the most significant of these is cortisone. At present, there is little reason to think that these hormones will have a specific curative effect in cancer. Cell chemistry is, however, fundamentally involved in the production of cancer. For instance, one investigator painted the skin of baby chicks with a chemical called methylcholanthrene, which acts as an irritant and which is known to be a carcinogenic agent. Chicks are particularly resistant to this substance. The skin did not respond except with the appearance of a few warts. Then the chicks were injected with considerable doses of the male sex hormone, testosterone, and cancers appeared, some of which were large. This shows the effects of hormones on cell growth.

Previously, Dr. Huggins and his associates at the University of Chicago had shown that estrogenic hormones, the female sex hormone, f. can be of help in controlling the prostate gland cancers of men, and other investigators have shown that testosterone definitely modifies activities of breast cancers in women.

Many different chemical substances have been tested for their effects, on the human body, with particular relationship to their ability to prevent the excessive growth of cells. When it was found that the constituents of the war gases known as nitrogen mustards could lessen the production of white blood cells, a series of studies were made involving 100 different nitrogen mustard compounds. Four, which seemed to be best, were eventually tested against human leukemia and also against Hodgkin's disease, which is a form of cancer of the lymph glands. The effects were interesting but did not prove of sufficient value to be adopted as a common treatment. Out of such studies came also trial of the antifolic acid compounds. These studies warranted the conclusion that the substances that antagonize folic acid have a definitely beneficial, although temporary, effect on cases of acute leukemia. This is not a specific cure for the disease, but is so definitely a specific action that it represents a real advance in the treatment of acute leukemia. Urethane is one of several chemical compounds that have seemed to offer some usefulness against leukemia.

Dr. Maude Slye at the University of Chicago contributed greatly to our knowledge of heredity in cancer. By growing thousands and thousands of mice in her laboratories she was able to show that there is somewhat of an hereditary element in cancer or the tendency of cells f to become cancerous. The Committee on Growth of the National Research Council has found evidence that this hereditary pattern can be influenced to some extent by chemical agents.

In 1956 several new substances are being tested in the chemical attack on cancer. Domagk who discovered the sulfonamides has a drug called 107--ethylene-imino-quinone which stops growth of cancer cells without injuring normal cells. An antibiotic called Sanamycin acts similarly. In the fight against cancer one of our most potent weapons is education of the public. Since cancer comes on insidiously and since it is controllable in great numbers of cases in its earliest stages, people have to be told.again and again about the early signs and symptoms of cancer. How can you help yourself against cancer? First, resolve to have an annual physical examination, which is a fine insurance not only against cancer but various insidious degenerative diseases. Look out for the cancer danger signals which should send you for an immediate investigation:

1. Any sore that does not heal.
2. A lump or thickening in the breast or elsewhere.
3. Unusual bleeding or discharge.
4. Any sudden change in a wart or mole.
5. Persistent indigestion or difficulty in swallowing.
6. Persistent hoarseness or cough.
7. Any change in normal bowel habits.