Catalase Activity of Liver and Kidney in Frogs With Spontaneous Renal Carcinoma

Abstract

There is now abundant evidence that tumors of cold blooded vertebrates are essentially similar in morphology and behavior to the corresponding types of tumors in birds and mammals, including man (1, 2). Little, however, is known about their chemical activities. A promising approach to investigations in this field is the study of enzymatic properties of tumors. For these purposes the kidney carcinoma of the leopard frog (Rana pipiens) is excellent material; it occurs as a "spontaneous" tumor in frogs living under natural conditions (3); it is readily available and attains a size adequate for analysis; the frogs can be maintained over a wide range of environmental temperature, the effects of which upon enzymatic processes can thus be determined.The present study deals with the enzyme catalase, whose properties have been thoroughly investigated in cancer of warm blooded animals, chiefly mice and rats (4). In mammals two main changes in catalase activity with respect to cancer have been found. First, the catalase activity of any kind of neoplastic tissue is uniformly low. Second, any kind of cancer no matter where located, if sufficiently large, has systemic effects on enzyme systems, the most sensitive indicator of which is diminution of catalase activity of the liver. The results of our experiments will be presented in the following order: (a) Comparison between catalase activity of normal frog kidneys and of kidney tumor; (b) catalase activity of normal or non-tumorous portions of kidneys from tumorbearing frogs; (c) comparison between liver catalase activity of normal and of tumor-bearing frogs; (d) correlation between catalase activity of tumors and of livers from the tumor-bearing frogs; (e) effect of environmental temperature upon catalase activity; (f) effect of intracoelomic injection of homogenates of kidney tumor and of kidney upon liver catalase. Material and MethodsAdult normal frogs of both sexes and frogs with palpable renal tumors were kept on thick pads of wet cotton in individual aquarium jars. They were housed in thermostatically controlled rooms, the temperature of which for most series was 18°C.; in one series two additional temperatures, 8°C. and 26.5°C., were used.

Inappropriate gene expression in human cancer and its far-reaching biological and clinical significance

“…Before moving to the next topic, it is worth mentioning in passing, that the Lucké renal adenocarcinoma also appears to exert systemic effects on remote organs, as demonstrated by the fact that it depletes liver catalase levels in its host [79], the leopard frog. Evidently, long-range paraneoplastic effects are not solely seen in humans.…”