Evening star., 1931-12-14
"COPPER" IN BLOOD
LINKED IN CANCER
Health Service Chemists Dis
cover Its Check on
Cell Division.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

That cancer may be associated in
some way with deficiency of copper In
the body appears from the results of
experiments just reported from the
National Institute of Health here.
1t was found by the Public Health
Service chemists that when amoebas
were placed in solutions containing ex-.
tremely dilute copper salt solutions
as little as l part in 500 900 000-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 e-celled animals, in
crease in the size of which causes the
tiny creature to split and become two
animals, each growing and splitting in
turn.
Now the growth OF cancer is
roughly analogous to the growth of
an amoeba colony. 1t consists Of the
splitting of the cells, making two where
there was only one before For that
| matter. all biological growth depends
on the same principle, but in malig-
nant tumors the splitting is accel-
Grated and unrestrained. Growth of
everything else in the body is under
some sort of delicate control, the ma
| ture Of which is not understood, SO
that 1t never can get out of bounds.
Discovery Of the inhibitory action
OF copper is especially important, be-
| cause OF the other side of the picture.
previously worked out by the Public
Health Service chemists One of the
! cell constituents of human and ami
| NAL bodies is a complicated chemical
substance known as glutathione When
minute quantities of this substance are
! placed in solution containing an
amoeba colony, it was found that the
rate of increase of the little animals
was greatly accelerated. 1t increased
the growth of the nucleus and seemed
to facilitate division.
! Body cells and amoeba are not verv
far apart in their fundamental nature.
i The essential difference is that the first
| are citizens Of such clOsely-knit
/ society that instead of being separate
| ANIMALS, many millions Of them COM
blne TO form one animal. while the
! amoeba is an individual in its own right.
From its action on amoeba, 1t seems
! that glutathlOne may constitute at least
an important part of the fundamental
factor in living matter responsible for
the essential difference between the
organic and the inorganic-the capacity
/ for reproduction and growth. Where
| this capacity exists. matter is alive.
| Where 1t does not exist as in stones or
metals. matter is nOn-llvlng. But in
! such dellcately balanced society as the
| body OF man or an oyster the prln-
| Clple that causes cell division must be
! under close control. exactly proper
| toned to the growth requirements Of
( every part of the organism. Otherwise
one part is going to get corner on the
cell-dNidmg principle and increase at
! the expense Of al! the rest Of the body.
This may be part OF the fundamental
mechanism of cancer.
May Be Fundamental Part
! Now analysis of living tissues shows
that nearly all of them contain minute
amounts OF copper-So much SO that it
recently has been recognized as prob
! ably fundamental constituent of pro-
! toplaSm The amount varies somewhat
! from organ TO organ, presumably IN
| keeping with the requirement. From
the National Institute experiments 1t
| appears that copper and glutathone
/ may be two fundamental balancing fac
! tors, 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 markedly
change the properties OF the other
| material.
| While the glutathione-co balance
| discovery has far-reaching implications
| in physiology it is not considered. ac-
! c0rding to the National Institute OF
, Health report. as more than new ap-
! proach to the cancer problem. 1t may
! constitute at best, a single factor in the
! peculiar behavior Of malignant tumol
! cells which for centuries has baffleC
medical science. Chemical analysis Of
some tumor tissue, the report says
shows that it contains relatively high
concentration of glutathione.
Glutathione also tends to inhibit, II
is shown in the report of other expert
mentS, the action of arsenic on living
tissues The effect of this poison is tC
cause a marked reduction in the oxygen
consumption Of tissue. The gMtathione
enabled the oxygen consumption to &C
on unimpeded.
Chemists of the National Institute. II
is announced. also are developing a de-
vice which will make possible the meas
urement of the important hydrogen-ior
concentration in tumors and in norma
tissues. This may open up new roao
to the understanding of cancer action
Hydrogen-ion formation is accom-
panied by the formation of Tactic acid
and the theory has been advanced that
excesSeS Of this substance may be re-
sponsible for the ability of tumor tc
penetrate into other tissues
These experiments have been con.
Quoted under the direction of DR. Car
Voegtlin, head of the Division ol
Pharmacology of the Public Health
Service.