Abstract

Cancer is a disease of antiquity. The Ancient Greeks were familiar with onkos (from which we have the term oncology)—tumour of all sorts. Hippocrates coined karkinos and karkinoma, our source of the words cancer and carcinoma. Of a plethora of carcinogens, parasitic worms (helminths) constitute a considerable health concern. Three trematodes, Clonorchis sinensis, Opisthorchis viverrini, and Schistosoma haematobium are now officially classified carcinogens. But the discovery of helminths as cancer-causing agents took wrong turns and marks an inglorious chapter in the history of science. The carcinogenicity of worms, vindicating Rudolf Virchow’s reiztheorie (irritation theory) of cancer origin, was glorified in the scientific forefront by Johannes Fibiger in the 1910s. Discovery of a new nematode, which he proudly named Spiroptera carcinoma, and his subsequent demonstration that the parasite could induce stomach cancer in rats, earned Fibiger a retrospective Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1926, and a lasting fame. But not in an appealing way. His achievement did not withstand the test of time. S. carcinoma was annulled as an invalid taxon in zoology—supplanted by Gongylonema neoplasticum—and eventually was branded as a non-carcinogenic agent.

Highlights

  • Hippocrates introduced a more technical term from which we have the word cancer. He was the first to note that tumours have characteristic arm-like projections from the main body of the breast cancer tissue, from which he was reminded of a crab—a decapod, not the bad -tempered kind—with its claws spreading out (Figure 1)

  • It goes without saying that Hippocrates is deservedly idolised as the father of medicine, and had he been alive to see actual breast cancer cells under a microscope, he would have overjoyed at the precision of his created name as some cancer cells do look like crab

  • It should be noted that most cancer cells do not look remotely like crab; his was in large part a misnomer

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Summary

SCIENCE VISION

Of a plethora of carcinogens, parasitic worms (helminths) constitute a considerable health concern. The discovery of helminths as cancer-causing agents took wrong turns and marks an inglorious chapter in the history of science. The carcinogenicity of worms, vindicating Rudolf Virchow’s reiztheorie (irritation theory) of cancer origin, was glorified in the scientific forefront by Johannes Fibiger in the 1910s. Discovery of a new nematode, which he proudly named Spiroptera carcinoma, and his subsequent demonstration that the parasite could induce stomach cancer in rats, earned Fibiger a retrospective Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1926, and a lasting fame. His achievement did not withstand the test of time. S. carcinoma was annulled as an invalid taxon in zoology—supplanted by Gongylonema neoplasticum—and eventually was branded as a non-carcinogenic agent

Historical Backdrop
It goes without saying that Hippocrates is
The Groundwork Theories
Discovery of a carcinogenic nematode
Experimental proofs
Further evidences
The Nobel Prize Controversy
The deplorable taxonomy
Findings
Of its biology
Full Text
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