人癌尿 Mucoid の生物活性に関する研究 : Toxohormone 作用との関係について

Several clinical and fundamental studies pertaining to the polarographic cancer reaction were conducted and previously reported by our laboratory. It is widely accepted that some fraction of serum mucoprotein may play a principal role in precipitating positive polarographic cancer reactions. Although several attempts have been made for the isolation, purification and identification of the mucoprotein in varied clinical conditions, the biological activities of this substance have not yet been thoroughly investigated, especially in cases with malignant disorders. In this paper, the effect on mouse liver catalase activity of the mucoid substances extracted from urine, blood and tumor tissue of cancer patients has been measured by Kosuge's permanganate method (cf. Medicine and Biology 31, 5, 1954), been compared with the effect of similar substances obtained from healthy controls and patients with inflammatory diseases. Results of electrophoretic analysis and supplemental chemical studies of the mucoid substances were also presented. The following results were obtained: 1) Urinary mucoids of cancer patients markedly depress the liver catalase activities of mice (2.8 to 16.1), while the urinary mucoids of patients with inflammatory diseases (8.7 to 26.1) and the urinary mucoids of healthy controls (8.9 to 36.3) scarcely inhibit the liver catalase activities of mice, as compared to the control animals (8.7 to 49.9). 2) Similarly, serum mucoids of patients with cancer exhibit a distinct liver catalase depressing activity (3.9 to 7.5), which is not observed with the serum mucoids obtained from normal human sera (6.0 to 20.1). 3) The alcohol extracts of cancer tissue strongly depress liver catalase activities of mice (3.0 to 11.2), whereas only slight depressing activity is noted with extracts of adjacent tissues (7.2 to 18.1). 4) Urinary mucoids of patients with cancer show a single peak in the intra-alpha-position in both moving boundary and paper electrophoresis. (Verona' buffer, pH. 8.6, ionic strengh, 0.1 and 0.07, respectively). Appearance of the N1-fraction, a characteristic peak for the serum mucoprotein, is noted following addition of urinary mucoid from patients with cancer into normal human serum when studied by movingboundary electrophoresis in an acid buffer. (Acetate buffer, pH.4.5, ionic strength, 0.1). Electrophoretically, the serum mucoids and alcohol extracts of tumor tissue exhibit rather more complex patterns than urinary mucoid, having other- peaks in the beta- and gamma-position. Supplemental chemical study of these substances (Nitrogen, Hexosamine, protein-bound polysaccharide) shows their close relationship to the mucoproteins already reported by many investigators. 5) Finally, it is postulated that so called "Cachexia-toxin" may be liberated from malignant tissues and circulate through blood stream, coupled with the serum mucoprotein fraction and, finally, excreted in urine