Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-12-16

in sense. explode and spread it
remedial effects throughout tn,
system to kill cancer, may b,
realized.
Many researchers are recog.
nizing that hordes Of different
unknown types of yiruses ar,
coursing through the human
body. many of them dormant
DR.. Wendell M. Stanley. heac
of the virus laboratory at thu
University of California, de.
clared only last summer thai
I'VE have today many more hu.
man viruses than we know what
to do with"
Many Unknown Viruses
Speaking at the third national
Cancer Conference in Detroit
DR.. Stanley added that recent
developments lead one to sus-
pect that there are many more
undiscovered viruses present in
presumably normal hum a r
beings"
He recalled the discovery OF
the apo viruses, or the adeno-
viruses located from the upper
respiratory tract of man, and
the ECHO viruses from the
human intestinal tract.
The National Institutes of
Health have shown that apo
viruses injected into cervical
cancer mass caused the disin-
tegration and disappearance of
most of this mass. Unfortu-
nately not all of the cancer cells
could be destroyed before neu-
tralizing antibodies to the virus
developed, protecting the rest of
the cancer.
Others Have Effect
Certain other viruses which,
when injected. tend to swarm to
the tissue of the nervous system.
cause a repression of cancer.
Often particular viruses attack
or infect only one spot. ut
should be possible to de-
velop viruses having no effect on
normal cells but with special
prediction for the destruction
of cancer cells" DR.. Stanley
wrote. Several laboratories are
already engaged in work of this
type"
But. this work is still in its
infancy.
Both DR.. Stanley and DR.. Lud-
wik Gross, chief of the cancer
research unit, Veterans Admini-
stration Hospital. New York. have
recently visualized quantities of
unknown strains of virus, often
dormant, existing in the human
body and being transmitted from
generation to generation.
Only occasionally, according to
the virus theory. do these viruses
become activated. This may hap
pen by nutritional or hormonal
imbalance or perhaps by the ir-I
ritation caused by outside in-I
fluences ssuch as ionizing IRA
dation.
View Supported
Then they began their cellular
destruction. But, DR.. Gross says.
such accidents may happen only
occasionally. separated by several
generations of healthy carriers. ;"
Speaking of cancer in animals
DR.. Stanley declared that we
know that viruses can cause can
Ger. 1t is difficult to escape the
conclusion that viruses may be
the Geological agents for most,
If not all, cancer. including can
wi AL lAldIl.
There is much laboratory back
ing for the virus theory as al
cause of cancer:
Certain forms of breast cancer
in mice are due to a virus trans
in the milk from healthy
(at the time of transmission
carrier mothers to their sucking
offspring.
This. DR.. Gross recalled in a
recent issue of the Journal of the |
American Medical Association. !
was the turning point in cancer
Fifteen years later in
1851 1t was shown that mouse
leukemia-very similar to human |
Ieukemia--is caused by a virus
strain.
Warts in humans are also |
caused by viruses.
NH Backs Theory
AT NH scientists believe that /
giruses are intimately connected /
with cancer despite the apparent /
TACT that some tend to cause it
and others tend TO destroy IL.
They may have a common /
basis.
A complex material known as /
is composed Of t
believed to be essen
tally involved in basic life pro-
,esses. This is believed to be
in some way in the cam
,er process. Cancer is a problem
II wild, disintegrated growth.
These same molecules are also
In essential part Of a virus. Some |
believe that viruses are
alive. others that they are not. !
while still third group believes
hey exist half way between life /
md death in a gray world.
A year ago II was shown that /
The tobacco mosaic yirus-which /
meets tobacco plants-couId be |
reconstructed after being broken /
down into its two major COM
protein and nucleic
acid
Could Be Significant
This may have a most i'm
portant bearing on cancer. Can
,er is believed to be a disease
II individual cells. Many re-
feel there is something
common to all cancer cells. no
matter WHARF they ave fnrYd