Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-14
CELL TISSUE STUDY
GIVES NEW INSIGHT
INTO TUBERCULOSIS
Scientists Also Make Impor-
tant Steps for Better Under
Outstanding of Cancer.
EFFECT OF TUBERCULIN
is TESTED ON ANIMALS
Heat Is Found to Incapacitate
Malignant Tumors for Fur
Their Growth.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

N0ASCahoHlS VI Uotn tuberculosis ana
cancer have Just been reported by the
Carnegie Institution of Washington.
1t is we'll known that some individuals
are FAR more susceptible to tuberculosis
than others, but the reason has not
been clear. 1t is due, as shown by the
work of DR.. A. r. Rich and Mrs. M. r
Lewis of the Carnegie embryological
laboratory at Johns Hopkins University
to some quality Of the individual cells
which are attacked by the tubercuie
bacillus.
This, they report, is of the nature
OF an exaggerated specific susceptibility
Such as Is well known in medicine. The
Two investigators studied the behavior
OF individual cells in tissue cultures, a
method that is being perfected at the
carnegie laboratory. The tissue is kept
alive after removal from the animal.
Fails to Aid Cure.
comparisons were made of the effect
OF tuberculin, the attenuated culture of
the tubercule bacillus which is used in
diagnosis of the disease in animals. on
the cells from two guinea pigs, one of
Wnlcn had Shown high susceptibility
10 tuberculosis and the other normal re-
siStance to the bacillus. Cultures were
mace OF the spleen and white blood
cells. Various amounts of tuberculin
were placed in the cultures.
Inc investigators found that cells of
the susceptible animal were killed by
amounts OF tuberculin in which the
ceIlS OF the other culture continued to
grow and multiply normally. The plas-
ma, or intercellular fluid in the blood.
made no difference, the experimenters
found. Plasma of the susceptible and
resistant animals was interchanged. and
the tuoerculin mixtures added, without
changing the results.
while the tuberculosis Investigation
merely adds to understanding without
giving any suggestion of new curative
measures, the cancer work of DR.. H. b.
triedgood OF the same laboratory NAV
De the pioneer step in a new therapy.
altnough no claims are made for it.
Studying Isolated cells Of malignant
tumorS of rats in tissue cultures. DIR.
Friedgood determined the amount of
neat exposure necessary to stop their
growth. the danger Of malignant tumors
being their unrestrained cell multiple
cation at the expense of other BODY
tissues. II some means could be found
TO stop this-to kill the cells without
seriously lnJuring other body cells
the cancer problem would be near solu-
ton.
hcdb ChcCkS GFOWtns
The particular malignant tumor
studied consists of two kinds of cells
DR.. Friedgood placed the culture in
sealed tubes and put these in heated
water of various temperatures for from
Is to 80 minutes. Then the culture was
taken out and "incubated" at the
proper temperature for cell multiplied
ton. He found that exposures of 80
minutes in water heated to about n
Fahrenheit incapacitates the cells for
further growth. Both types of cells
were equally affected.
The next step, it is explained in the
Carnegie report of the experiment, is to
determine the degrees of heat which
incapacitate for growth other tumor
cells and normal body cells. If suf-
ficient differentiation can be found the
way may be opened for a new line of
attack on cancer. e.
At the same time Mrs. M. r. Lewis
and Miss j. Lockwood, in the same lab
oratory, were studying tissue cultures of
malignant tumor cells to determine the
precise difference between the constitu-
ton Of the malignant outlaw" cells and
the innocent blood cells found in such
a growth. They watched these through
all the life steps of reproduction and
growth. The essential difference they
found was that the malignant cell at
the stage of division or reproduction
contained twice as many chromosomes
as the innocent CELL chromosomes being
the units of the cell nucleus which d.
videS.
Similar shaped cells from other parts
OF the bodies of rats were studied in
comparison to the outlaw" cells and
the same difference was found. The
double number of chromosomes gives
the newborn malignant cell a better
chance in life than the innocent normal
cell. The great problem now, the in
vestigators point out, is to find out how
the malignant tumor cells acquire these
extra chromosomes. Then somebody
may devise means to stop the process.
Malignant tumors are Of different
kinds, some probably due to Submicro-
scopic viruSes and some to other causes
Another line of research followed by
Mrs. Lewis attempted to determine the
nature of the virus which is known to
be responsible for one type of tumor In
Chickens. Similar viruseS cause various
human diseases
They may, or may not, consist of
living creatures, the report points out.
If so, they are the smallest of all
forms of life and can be secured onlv
by their escape from the culture of a
diseased tissue through a porcelain fl
ter-that is through the spaces be-
tween porcelain molecules.
Mrs. Lewis put this filterable virus
through various complicated chemical
tests to determine whether the malie-
nant principle in 1t was "alive" or mere
ly chemical substance. Mrs. Lewis
anC her co-worker, DR.. L. Michaelis.
report that the virus, lat least in re-
Spect to its resistance to chemicals.
shows behavior very different from
that Of an animal cellor a protozoon.
If 1t is a living organism 1t is COM
parable to bacteria
Studies Removed Heart.
In the same laboratory DR.. w. H..
Lewis is studying the beating of the
heart outside the body.
He has been able to keep alive and
pulSating for several hours the heart
removed from the embryo of a chicken
and immersed in a certain solution.
The heart muscles continue 10 con-
tract through some quality in them
selves.
Now he is trying to determine the
things that change the rate of this
observation-disclosures in the temperature
OF the solution, changes In the chemi-
cal makeup OF the solution, changes
in the surrounding atmosphere, and
stimulation of the isolated
organ, in an effort to throw more light
He has found that when the glass
dish containing the solution Is COW
cred, the heart beat Is from 20 TO 100
per cent more rapid than when it is
due to the cooling of the
solution nv eVanOration