Charles Brenton Huggins (September 22, 1901 – January 12, 1997) was a Canadian-American physician, physiologist and cancer researcher at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
specializing in
prostate cancer. He was awarded the 1966
Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, according ...
for discovering in 1941 that
hormone
A hormone (from the Greek participle , "setting in motion") is a class of signaling molecules in multicellular organisms that are sent to distant organs by complex biological processes to regulate physiology and behavior. Hormones are require ...
s could be used to control the spread of some cancers. This was the first discovery that showed that
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
could be controlled by chemicals.
Biography
Huggins was born in
Halifax,
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
, Canada. He graduated from
Acadia University
Acadia University is a public, predominantly undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some graduate programs at the master's level and one at the doctoral level. The enabling legislation consists of the Acadia ...
with a
BA degree in 1920. He went on to study medicine at
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
and received his
MD degree in 1924. He served his internship and residency in general surgery with Frederick A. Coller at the
University of Michigan
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, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
.
Huggins established a method to measure the effect
hormone
A hormone (from the Greek participle , "setting in motion") is a class of signaling molecules in multicellular organisms that are sent to distant organs by complex biological processes to regulate physiology and behavior. Hormones are require ...
changes have on prostatic function. He found out that
castration
Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which an individual loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical castration uses pharma ...
or
estrogen
Estrogen or oestrogen is a category of sex hormone responsible for the development and regulation of the female reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics. There are three major endogenous estrogens that have estrogenic hormonal ac ...
administration led to glandular
atrophy, which could be reversed by re-administration of androgen. In 1941 the beneficial effect of androgen ablation on
metastatic
Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...
prostate cancer was realised when Huggins and Clarence Hodges treated patients by either castration or estrogen therapy. They monitored the prostate size and therapeutic efficacy by measuring serum
prostatic acid phosphatase
Prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP), also prostatic specific acid phosphatase (PSAP), is an enzyme produced by the prostate. It may be found in increased amounts in men who have prostate cancer or other diseases.
The highest levels of acid phosphata ...
levels and concluded that androgenic activity in the body influences prostate cancer, at least with respect to serum phosphatase. Huggins was the first to use a systemic approach to treat prostate cancer.
Huggins was elected to the United States
National Academy of Sciences and the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
in 1949. In 1958, Huggins received the
Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh. In 1962, he was elected to the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
.
He was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...
on October 13, 1966.
Huggins died on January 12, 1997, in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, aged 95. His wife died in 1983.
Notes
References
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External links
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Prostate Cancer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huggins, Charles Brenton
1901 births
1997 deaths
Acadia University alumni
American Nobel laureates
American physiologists
Canadian physiologists
Canadian people of English descent
Canadian Nobel laureates
Harvard Medical School alumni
Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine
People from Halifax, Nova Scotia
University of Chicago faculty
Canadian oncologists
20th-century American physicians
Recipients of the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award
Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Canadian emigrants to the United States
Members of the American Philosophical Society