Some practical aspects of cancer prevention

Between prevention and therapy: Gio Batta Gori and the National Cancer Institute's Diet, Nutrition and Cancer Programme, 1974-1978

This paper explores the origins of the Diet, Nutrition and Cancer Programme (DNCP) of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and its fate under its first director, Gio Batta Gori. The DNCP is used to explore the emergence of federal support for research on diet, nutrition and cancer following the 1971 Cancer Act, the complex relations between cancer prevention and therapeutics in the NCI during the 1970s, the broader politics around diet, nutrition and cancer during that decade, and their relations to Senator George McGovern's select committee on Nutrition and Human Needs. It also provides a window onto the debates and struggles over whether NCI research should be funded by contracts or grants, the nature of the patronage system within the federal cancer research agency, how a director, Gio Gori, lost patronage within that system and how a tightening of the budget for cancer research in the mid-to-late 1970s affected the DNCP.

Alcohol consumption and risk of laryngeal cancer

Epidemiological studies consistently showed that alcohol drinking increases the risk of laryngeal cancer. This risk increases with the amount of alcohol consumed: in recent studies conducted in North America, Europe, Japan and Korea the multivariate relative risks for the highest levels of consumption ranged between 2 and 10, and were 1.94 for 50 g/day and 3.95 for 100 g/day in a meta-analysis of 20 studies. Further, the risk increases by concomitant tobacco smoking, each agent approximately multiplying the effect of the other. In the absence of smoking the risks are small for moderate alcohol consumption. After stopping drinking, some fall in risk becomes apparent in the long term. The role of age at starting and stopping drinking is still unclear. In various studies, the most commonly used alcoholic beverage appears to be the most associated with laryngeal cancer risk, suggesting that no meaningful difference exists for different types of alcoholic beverages. The supraglottis is more closely related to alcohol consumption, as compared to the glottis/subglottis. Alcohol drinking may influence laryngeal cancer risk particularly through its direct contact or solvent action, perhaps by enhancing the effects of tobacco or other environmental carcinogens.

Contribution of three components to individual cancer risk predicting breast cancer risk in Italy

We used data from a multicentre case-control study conducted in Italy between 1991 and 1994 on over 2500 cases of breast cancer and a comparable number of controls, and estimates of breast cancer incidence in Italy to compute individual breast cancer risk for Italian women. The estimated probabilities between age 50 and 80 ranged from approximately 5% (for a woman with no family history and low modifiable risk profile) to about 30% (for a woman with young family history and high modifiable risk) on the basis of various women's baseline characteristics. Expected numbers of breast cancer cases using the present model were compared with those based on the USA Gail model, and with the observed ones in the comparison group of the Italian Tamoxifen Trial. These show a closer agreement between the observed and the expected total numbers of breast cancers than the USA Gail model. Thus, the Gail model can be improved for use in other populations by using estimates of incidence and risk which are more appropriate to the target population.

L'azione Promovente Dell'ormone Follicolare nel Duplice Meccanismo di Carcinogenesi Dell'utero e Vagina di Ratte

In order to study the promoting action of the follicular hormone on the genital system of the female, 48 rats were treated. After 2 previous endovaginal instillations of 0.30 per cent 3,4-benzpyrene, the rats have been divided into 4 groups: the first did not receive further treatment, the second received endovaginal instillations of 0.1 ml of folliculin (Estrene) every 3 days, the third received instillations of 0.1ml of croton oil in olive oil, the fourth 0.1 ml of a 5 per cent solution of croton oil in Estrene. The rats were sacrificed at time intervals, from a minimum of 20 days to a maximum of 250 days.

The whole of the experiments showed that:

a) benzpyrene in the employed dosis did not produce tumour occurrence in the genital organs of the rat.

b) the association of benzpyrene (initiating factor) with croton oil in olive oil (promoting factor) induces only changes of hyperplastic and precarcinomatous type.

c) folliculin, on the other hand, exerts a marked promoting action on cancer appearance. In fact, in animals treated with folliculin, a gradual transformation of the hyperplastic processes in precarcinomatous stages and in true epithelial tumours is observed, restricted to the vagina and the low portion of the uterine cervix; such transformation is directly related to the duration of the folliculin treatment, and the hormonal action is increased by croton oil association. In the upper portion of the cervix, in the horns, salpinx and ovary only alterations dependent on the specific and prolonged action of the follicular hormone are observed.

Ricerche Sperimentali Sull'azione Cocarcinogena Della Follicolina in Associazione Con Olio di Croton

Female rats have been treated with follicular hormone in association with croton oil. In one case only a malignant ovarian tumour was observed. The hypothesis is suggested that oestrogens may promote the carcinogenesis.