Cancer precursors and their control by BCG.

I am proposing a theory which states that stimulation of the immune system at birth detects and destroys embryonic cells or components thereof, including subcellular pattern defects, molecular structure defects and so forth which may be the source of malignancy not only in infancy but throughout life. The facts are that: Fetal rests or stigmata thereof remain in many of the organs of the body--the liver, the kidney, the spleen, the brain and so forth. These rests are usually absorbed by the end of the first year of life, but recent evidence indicates that stigmata of this fetal tissue may remain throughout one's entire life and be precursors of cancer. In animals and in humans, the antigens from malignant neoplasms crossreact with anti-fetal antibodies. Many tumors express fetal antigens and secrete fetal products. Alpha-feto-protein was found in adult cancer of the liver; carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA) has been reported in cancer of the colon-rectum; fetal alkaline phosphatase has been found in many adult cancers. Fetal tissue injected into animals will immunize these animals against certain transplanted tumors. Recently, in a lecture at Salk Institute, Sir Peter Medawar, Nobel Prize winner in medicine and until recently the head of the British Medical Research Council, described the use of quasi-fetal tissue as helpful in treating cancer of the adult. The infant's immune system is not fully developed. In fact, one can transfuse an infant without typing because he has built no antibodies to the blood types in early infancy. It has been shown in individuals of any age who are immune-deficient, either by heredity or acquired that the rate of malignancy may be as high as 10,000 times that of the general population. The immune system controls cancer development to a great extent. Published data suggests that the immune system detects and destroys embryonic cells or components thereof that may be a locus for cancer development. Our studies demonstrated that in some 85,353 BCG vaccinated newborns followed over a period of 20 years, there was an overall 74 percent reduction in the death rate from all forms of cancer when compared to a similar group not vaccinated. The differences were highly significant statistically. At an International Symposium, "BCG Vaccination Against Cancer and Leukemia" held in Chicago October 4-6, 1982, papers were presented from the U.S.A. (83), Austria (7), and Israel (54) which support the thesis of a lowering of mortality from cancer and leukemia in infants vaccinated at birth with BCG.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)