CANCER PUZZLE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5223, 6 January 1928, Page 3

CANCER PUZZLE.

NEW THEORY OF CAUSE. BODY CELLS WITHOUT OXYGEN. The annual report of the Imperial .Cancer- Research Fund ■ states that efforts are being continued elucidate the cause of-cancer. ! - One of the baffling problems is why fea primary cancerous growth ifl soli- ’ tary, while benign tumours are mulv tiple. This means that a number, of • benign tumours may occur independently in different parts of the body-while-if cancer originateis in one part it may distribute itself to other parts, but as a rule no new cancer can make its appeiaxance. r A comparatively new »theory o* causation, that of Professor Warburg’s, of Berlin, is described in the report. The energy of healthy tissues, Dr. Warburg says, is chiefly derived from oxid’sed carbohydrates ; ifj oxygen be • lacking the tissues perish. But cancer cells can, without any oxygen, brejak \Mwn the carbohydrate and derive sufficient energy r for survival. - His conclusion is that the tissues of the body, which consist mainly of ■ cells, using oxygen, have interspersed in them isolated cells which can grow without oxygen. When oxygen is deficient tKNse latter celjs multiply and provide The nucleus for the subsequent development of cancer.