Modification of fibrosarcomas and squamous cell carcinomas of mouse skin using various tissue extracts

Abstract

RECENT attention has focused on the possibility of utilising (or mimicking) aspects of mitotic processes in the control of cancer. Bullough, Rytömaa and others used preparations of mitosis inhibiting proteins (chalones) to produce remissions (total in some cases) in a number of tumour tissues^1–3. These chalone preparations were shown to be tissue specific. Only epidermal chalone worked on epidermal tumours. Liver extracts prepared in the manner of epidermal chalone extracts gave no remissions in epidermal tumours⁴. Melanocyte chalone was necessary for remissions in melanomata⁵ and granulocyte chalone was successful in the treatment of chloroleukaemia⁶. We report here remissions resulting from the treatment of chemically-induced fibrosarcomas and squamous cell carcinomas of the skin in mice using extracts of various mouse tissues. We also report the presence of mitosis-inhibiting protein in these extracts.