A Physical Approach to the Problem of Cancer

Abstract

(1952). But it will help for the purposes of the present communicatioii to provide a summary of the results.(a) Chemical carcinogens.-The first chemical compound to be identified as a carcinogenic agent was 1:2:5:6-dibenzanthracene (Cook, Hieger, Kennaway and Mayneord, 1932). Since that time, the polycyclic hydrocarbons have been investigated systematically from this point of view. A certain degree of specificity has been observed and it has been correlated to some extent with the presence of a region of high electron density (K region, Schmidt, 1939), within the molecule. Some recent work has suggested, however, that the carcinogenic activity of the polycyclic hydrocarbons may be related in part to their ability to undergo autooxidation and liberate free radicals (Alexander, 1952).The second class of carcinogenic compounds includes mustard gas (Heston, 1950), nitrogen mustards (Boyland and Horning, 1949)