Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-14
FINDING NATURE OF CELL
rs FIRST CANCER WAR AIM
Medical Science Is Waging Slow but
Determined Fight to Rid HUI
manity of Menace.

with tissues from warm -blooded antmals.
So he took a small piece Of an un-
Matched chick and put 1t into culture
medium made from chickens blood
kept 1t warm and noted that 1t grew
and that even the muscle OF the chick
ems heart would beat. From the orig
inal fragment cells would grow out, and
leucocyteS, or the white cells Of the
blood, would wander around In these
new formed tissues.
Thus 1t was possible TO study all these
different cells under the microscope and
note their behavior.
There was great excitement in the
scientific world when Carrel published
his results, and extension Of his work
was taken up in many laboratories 1t
was soon found that II one tried 10
grow adult tissues or highly organized
tissues, q whole crop of difficulties ap-
peared. Such tissues did not grow well.
Some would not grow at all Human
cancer tissue, for instance, would not
grow under any condition. Even trans
planted animal cancers, which had been
kept in laboratories, grew with difnculty
and the cultures would die out soon, and
it was evident that the growth was not
healthy.
Nevertheless, interesting investigA-
tionS were made, even at that time,
some Is years ago. 1t was found, for
that II beating chicken heart muscle
was exposed to radium. the beating
cells were much more resistant to the
radiation than the cells which were
rapidly dividing and growing. Evidently
cell like the heart muscle, which did
not have to divide, but simply worked,
was resistant to radiation, and huge
doses could be given without disturbing
1t. But the rapidly growing cells Of
he ~ f1aA -
quickly killed. Cells when dividing are
more sensitive to radium or X-ray than
those which do not have to split up
and grow. This is the basis for the
treatment of cancer: XIII the sensitive
growing cells, then give another dose
later when the remaining cells are
dividing, and so gradually destroy the
whole.
Some Types More Sensitive.
It was found in the same laboratory
that the growing normal tissues and
some of the animal cancer tissues re-
quire just about as much exposure to
kill the normal as to kill the abnormal,
but that some types Of tumor cells are
more sensitive than the normal cells
growing In the same culture, and there
fore explanation of the effect of radium
in the cure of cancer was made. That
Is, in certain types of cancer the malig-
nant cells, being more sensitive TO radia-
ton, are destroyed and the healthy cells
left. The effect of heat on the two
types was also studied, and some Of the
cancer cells were found to be more
sensitive to heat than the normal cells.
Hence 1t seemed probable that by
heating cancer one might cure 1t
without destroying the body cells sur
rounding it, and in a few instances
this is possible. When we heat the
whole animal with tJmor the animal
dies just before the tumor does, be-
cause the cells of the brain and other
highly specialized groups are very Sensi-
tive to heating. Hence the heat used
to treat cancer must be locally applied
and the rest of the body protected from
rise in temperature.
When the difficulties in growing cells
were encountered and the obvious things
were worked out the subject was drop
| ped for 10 years, except In the labora-
tories Of a few patient workers, who
carefully investigated the reasons which
lay behind the refusal Of cells TO grow.
1t was finally found that when, certain
fluids were added to the culture fluid
| and cells grew much better.
/ With this discovery renewed interest
in the method Sprang up and the Cyto-
logical Congress Is the result Of this
renewed interest. Now we can grow
not only the chick embryo cells, but
adult cells. Cancers from mice and
rats have been grown for years and
retain all of their malignant properties.
Even human cancer under favorable
conditions may be kept alive for
considerable time.
This Is very important, az we can
determine with the greatest accuracy
the necessary dose of radium or X-rays
| to use to kill these cells, and this can
be applied practically in the treatment
of cancer by radiation. When the time
comes that human cancer can be grown
easily, 1t will be possible to cut out a
piece of a tumor, grow 1t and determine
its degree Of sensitivity to radiation.
Thus the necessary dose will be known
which is required to kill all the tlmor
cells in the body.
More Complex Tissues Grown.
AS the technique has improved 1t has
been possible to grow more complex It's
sueS-for instance, piece OF liver or
piece of kidney or piece of thyroid
gland from an animal will develop for
a certain length OF time and make
little patch of tissue which will repro
duce somewhat the original structure
of the gland from which 1t came.
Under the microscope we can see the
beginning of the development of the
chick from the smallest, earliest en-
hryo. We can study the formation of
the heart and watch the first corpuscles
go out through the blood vessels when
the heart begins to beat One can
take the ovum of rabbit and see 1t
divide again and again for four or i've
days.
These things sound simple, but the
technique itself is one of the most Diff
fcult in science. All this work has 10
%
gical asepSiS. A few germs In the cul-
ture fluid, few moulds from the air.
and the culture is ruined. The experts
working here look like surgeons in an
operating room-white gowns, gloves,
everything sterilized; in some instances
q special room is built, into which
filtered air is blown so that no germs
ever enter; but it is well ventilated and
at blood temperature so that the cul-
lures never become chilled.
With the perfection of the movie"
camera, pictures of the movements and
growth of these tissue cultures have
been made matter of popular demon
stration. One of the first of these films
Of cancer cells was made at the Rookie
feller Institute under DR.. Carols direc-
ton. In 1t cells may be seen dividing,
moving about under the microscope, or
the scavenger cells may be seen devour-
ing fragments of the others-all Of
which is striking demonstration of
the activities of the living cell DR..
Can't of st. Bartholomew Hospital in
London has also photographed such
cells under various conditions, including
cells after exposure to large doses Of
radium.
Little Details Brought Out.
The growth Of the heart of the chick
was one of the most interesting things
shown in Amsterdam. The first bea.
could be seen, and the blood circulating
all in a small animal grown in q Gull :
ture tube. OF course, such moving pic =