Evening star., 1954-12-20
Resistance Factor Seen
Against Lung Cancer
Only ! Heavy Smoker in 10
Gets Disease, Experts Soy
BY Thomos R. Henry

BY Thomas R. Henry
Only one out of 10 heavy cigarette
smokers develope lung cancer.
Inhaling smoke is now accepted as Q
major cause Of the diSease-but prob
ably something Chemical in the
makeup of the individual is q deter
mining factor.
Thus an approach to the problem
OF one of the most rapidly increasing
fatal diseases is opened in two ways
finding the cancer-producing substance
in cigarettes and the chemical consti-
tuents Of the body which protect
against it.
This Is the present stand of the
Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer
Research at Columbia University, one
Of the worlds foremost cancer centers.
Evidence Is Strong.
The evidence for some sort Of con-
nection between cigarettes and malig-
nant tumors of the lungs, gathered in
both the United States and Europe,
now is very strong, the specialists
admit. A substance has actually been
extracted from cigarette papers which
causes skin cancers in mice Still there
must be an enormous factor of i'm
munity in 80 per cent of individuals.
The Investigations. says q report Of
the Institute, will be helped enormously
by a new technique by which human
lung tissue can be grown in expert
mental animals and the effect on it Of
all sorts Of combinations studied. If
the specific cancer-causing factors can
be found, the possibility of eliminating
them from cigarette smoke by filters
would be greatly increased.
The major problem of immunity
would remain. 1t is apparent from
studies in both animals and man, saws
the report, that individuals differ in
their susceptibilities to the production
OF cancer by various agents. Even
those chemicals which have been long
accepted as being cancer-producing
agents in animals rarely are 100 per
cent effective.
Resistance Believed Inherent.
Where pure strains of experimental
animals with special characteristics can
be developed. susceptibility and resist
ance to cancer can be shown to be in
herited qualities. within certain limits.
1t is conservatively estimated that four
out Of five instances of cancer of the
lung are due to smoking. but that only
one in 10 heavy smokers will acquire
the disease. 1t is as important to define
that nature of the resistance possessed
by the nine as to prove that one Is
caused by tobacco. Says the report:
There is a growing conviction that
the factors that affect the predisposi-
ton to disease reside in the chemistry
of the body. Particularly suspect are
the hormones produced by the en-
docrine systematic SEX adrenal and
other glands. The strongest evidence
for this position is that In animal ex-
periments agents that normally are
cancer-producing are inert if the sub
ject animal does not possess q normal
endocrine system"
The rate of recovery in lung cancer
Is very low-only about five per cent.
This is due in part to failure Of early
detection rather than particular malig-
nancy of this type of neoplaSm. A
special technique now has been devel-
oped the report says, by which the deep
air passages Of the lungs can be washed
out gently and the cells they contain
examined under a microscope. This
may give evidence Of the start Of lung
cancer long before there are any overt
signs.
Similarity Noticed.
Some evidence also has been gath
cred. according to the report, that in
lung cancer tissue there may exist some
substance different from, but in the
same class as. those that give the reac-
tions long used as tests for syphilis.
A new operation now has been de-
vised, the report states, which may some.
what increase the cure rate from sur
gerry. Careful study has revealed that
in many patients the spreading cancer
cells are confined to tissue Immediately
adjacent to the lungs and the lymph
nodes around the heart.
Now an effort is being made to
remove the surrounding lymph nodes as
well as lung tissue itself. Considerable
time will be required before it will be
possible to predict the success of this
procedure but there is strong sug-
gestion that. If the disease has not
extended far beyond the lung. node re-
moval may achieve the cure of patients
who otherwise would die.
Another line Of approach comes from
experimental evidence that every type
OF cell. including cancer cells may have
its own special requirements for nu-
triton. This has been demonstrated
for cells of some kinds Of cancer. Il
may be possible to make the same
determination for lung cancer. now that
the tissue can be grown in experimental
animals.
Ouesfions nnd Aneuare