100 ENZYMES 



The non-cancerous livers of cancerous patients were found by Yous- 

 souf^° to produce more lactic acid during antiseptic autolysis than 

 did livers in other conditions. Autolysis of organs of cancer patients 

 is about as rapid as normal (ColwelP^). Several observations have 

 suggested that tumor tissues might contain proteolytic enzymes dif- 

 fering from those of normal tissues especially in their ability to digest 

 heterologous normal tissues, but at present this work needs confirma- 

 tion and amplification before it can carry the weight of speculation 

 which has been heaped upon it.^^ 



Micheli and Donati^° attribute the hemolytic properties possessed 

 by extracts of malignant tumors to the products of autolysis that are 

 present, which Petry has also demonstrated to produce hemolj'sis. 

 Emerson^i attributes the disappearance of HCl from the gastric juice 

 in carcinoma of the stomach to neutralization by basic products 

 of autolysis, a hypothesis that may well be questioned. (See also 

 "Tumors," Chap, xix.) 



Various other intracellular enzymes have been described, which for the most 

 part have as yet no significance in pathology. An exception is fibrin ferment, 

 ■which will be considered fully in discussing thrombosis. Ferments coagulating 

 milk seem 'to be widely spread in the tissues. The precipitation of plastein from 

 proteose solution by organ extracts (Niirnberg) may be either the effect of a 

 •coagulating ferment or due to reverse action of the proteases. Ferments split- 

 ting specifically maltose, lactose, sucrose, glucosides, and nucleoproteins have 

 been described, and the glycogenolytic ferment is probably nearly imiversally pres- 

 ent. Other enzymes decomposing amino-acids into ammonium compounds may 

 also exist. The enzymes acting specifically upon the nucleic acids and the purine 

 bodies are discussed in Chapter xxiii. 



88 Arch. Middlesex Hosp., 1910 (19), 55. 



83 See, for example, Rulf, Zeit. Krebsforsch., 1906 (4), 417; Muller, Cent. inn. 

 Med., 1909 (30), 89. 



90 Riforma med., 1903 (19), 1037. 



" Deut. Arch. klin. Med., 1902 (72), 415. 



