102 ENZYMES 



demonstrated by Petry, l who found that carcinomata of the 

 breast contained much of their nitrogen in compounds not 

 coagulated by heat, while in the normal gland practically all is 

 coagulable. He also demonstrated an autolytic property in 

 tumor tissue, showing that tumor cells do not differ in this 

 respect from normal cells. 



Neuberg 2 found that while, according to other observers, most 

 enzymes, as well as bacteria, are very susceptible to the action 

 of radium rays, the autolytic enzymes of cancer cells are an 

 exception, for cancer tissue exposed to radium undergoes autol- 

 ysis much faster than cancer tissue not exposed to radium. He 

 attributes the effects of radium on cancer to its deleterious effects 

 on the oxidizing and other enzymes of the cells, destroying their 

 activities, which results in destruction of the cells by the auto- 

 lytic enzymes. 3 A cancer of the stomach was found to. con tain 

 autolytic enzymes capable of digesting lung tissue (pepsin was 

 excluded) and autolyzed cancers yielded much pentose. Blu- 

 menthal and Wolf 4 believe that tumor tissues have particularly 

 active autolytic enzymes, since liver tissue added to tumor 

 tissue underwent autolysis much more rapidly than normal. 

 Beebe 5 found products of autolysis constantly present in several 

 tumors ; namely, a carcinoma of the broad ligament, a hyper- 

 nephroma, an angiosarcoma, and a round-cell sarcoma. 



Micheli and Donati 6 attribute the hemolytic properties pos- 

 sessed by extracts of malignant tumors to the products of auto- 

 lysis that are present, which Petry has also demonstrated to 

 produce hemolysis. Emerson 7 attributes the disappearance of 

 HC1 from the gastric juice in carcinoma of the stomach to neu- 

 tralization by basic products of autolysis, a hypothesis that 

 may well be questioned. (See also "Tumors," Chap, xvii.) 



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. 



1 Zeit. f. physiol. Chem., 1899 (27), 398; Hofmeister's Beitr., 1902 (2), 94. 



2 Zeit. f. Krebsforschung, 1904 (2), 171 ; Berlin, klin. Woch., 1904 (41), 

 1081 ;Ibid., 1905 (42), 118. 



3 Wohlgemuth, Berl. klin. Woch., 1904 (41), 704, found that autolysis in 

 tuberculous lung tissue was three or four times more rapid when exposed to 

 radium rays. Heile (Arch klin. Chir., 1905 (77), 107) looks upon the favorable 

 effects of x-rays as partly produced by their liberation of autolytic enzymes 

 from the leucocytes. 



4 Med. Klinik, 1905 (1), No. 7. 



5 Amer. Jour. Physiol., 1904 (11), 139. 



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



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



