Carcinogenic Substances From Pituitary Glands of Cattle

Abstract

Lipid extracts from the pituitary gland of cattle were prepared which, when injected into a pure strain of white mice, caused development of malignant tumors in 26.8 per cent of the 67 animals injected, which corresponds with the numerical results obtained by investigators working with human liver extracts. Evidently the carcinogenic power of these lipid extracts is low. The tumors developed chiefly in organs at a distance from the site of injection, exhibiting various histological types including carcinoma as well as sarcoma. The tumors developed at an earlier date after injection of extracts from the anterior lobe as compared with those developing after injection of the posterior lobe extracts, the average period of time necessary for their development being 9.3 months for the anterior lobe extracts and 14 months for posterior lobe extracts.

The Biochemistry of Carcinogenesis

“…Hieger (31,32) has obtained a cho lesterol-rich fraction from tissues of human subjects that produced some sarcomas following injection into mice. A carcinogenic sub stance was also found in the lipid fraction of the pituitary of cattle (33).…”