IX. NEOPLASTIC ABNORMAL GROWTH 



BY C. P. RHOADS^ 



^ BNORMAL growth IS SO broad a subject that the Hmits within 

 /\ which we are to use the term here must be precisely defined 

 X .A- before it is discussed. The purpose of the consideration here- 

 with presented is to explore the stockpile of possibly unrelated factual 

 material of a fundamental biological nature for ideas and principles 

 which may make more efifective the investigative attack on neoplastic 

 disease. This kind of abnormal growth is one which has no function 

 in, or integration with, any orderly cellular structure and, more than 

 this autonomy, it has a positive, malignant capacity to injure normal 

 tissue. It is analogous to the predatory animal in the domesticated herd. 



Unique Characteristics of the Cancer Cell 



Extensive studies in progress are designed to provide new informa- 

 tion about the nature of the cancer cell, a most important problem in the 

 field of abnormal growth. Though repetitious, it is relevant to state once 

 more that this cell is characterized by unique properties and is, sup- 

 posedly, the repository of secrets which, if known, would make simple 

 the solution of the whole great problem of neoplastic disease. Many in- 

 vestigators are dissatisfied with their limited knowledge of the mecha- 

 nism which provides such a destructive and uncontrolled structure with 

 its power, and some wish particularly to understand in greater detail 

 how the constituent cells dififer in their constitution and function from 

 their normal precursors. Not only is this question of fundamental inter- 

 est, but also, were adequate information concerning it at hand, a direct 

 therapeutic attack on neoplastic disease conceivably could be developed. 



A histological preparation of cancer tissue in contrast to its back- 

 ground of normal cellular structure provides ample evidence to establish 

 the unusual capacities of the cancer cell. The very ability of the patholo- 

 gist to diagnose a neoplasm from the forms and staining reactions of its 

 components is proof enough ( i ) that they are in general strikingly ab- 

 normal. The cells are not only distinctive in form, but also show unique 

 competitive powers. The morphology of a gastric wall infiltrated with 

 cancer, or of a cervix uteri similarly involved, demonstrates adequately 



1 Director, The Memorial Hospital for the Treatment of Cancer and Allied Diseases, 

 and the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research. Professor of Pathology, Cornell 

 University Medical College, New York. 



