Abstract
This paper does not describe a “cure” for cancer. The large number of pathetic inquiries received from cancer sufferers and their relatives and friends following the publication of a preliminary note in Science demonstrates the need of research along these lines. The cumulative data in the series of studies of which this is one lead to the hope that the control of spontaneous tumors (at least of the mammary gland in mice) by chemotherapy may not be far distant. The present investigation leads primarily to the conclusion that the mechanism or mechanisms controlling the origin and survival of a spontaneous tumor have, under experimental conditions, been significantly influenced.
Fifty-three female mice of the Strong A strain with spontaneous tumors of the mammary gland were treated with redistilled heptyl aldehyde. Heptyl aldehyde, with a boiling point of 152.2–153.2° C. (corr.), was used since it is present in the low-boiling-point fraction of the natural oil of wintergreen, which was previously found to bring about liquefaction and retrogressive changes in spontaneous tumors of mice. Because of its unstable nature, the redistilled heptyl aldehyde was kept under carbon dioxide in glass-stoppered bottles in the ice-box. It was given, as in all preceding experiments in this series, in the diet.
- Copyright © 1939 American Association for Cancer Research
Volume 35, Issue 3
