Kanematsu Sugiura (1890 – October 21, 1979 in White Plains,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

) was a

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 ...

researcher who spent his career at the

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital. MSKCC is one of 52 National Cancer Institute– ...

. A pioneer in cancer research", he completed over 250 papers before his death. Sugiura received a number of awards and prizes throughout his life, and retired from the center in 1962. He is perhaps best known for his work on

laetrile Amygdalin (from Ancient Greek: ' "almond") is a naturally occurring chemical compound found in many plants, most notably in the seeds (kernels) of apricots, bitter almonds, apples, peaches, cherries, and plums. Amygdalin is classified as a ...

, a controversial

alternative cancer treatment Alternative cancer treatment describes any cancer treatment or practice that is not part of the conventional standard of cancer care. These include special diets and exercises, chemicals, herbs, devices, and manual procedures. Most alternative ...

, which he was convinced had a palliative effect on certain mice tumors. The report that was released by Sugiura of his findings of the experiment are as follows: The results clearly show that Amygdalin(Laetrile) significantly inhibits the appearance of lung metastasis in mice bearing spontaneous mammary tumors and increases significantly the inhibition of the growth of the primary tumors....Laetrile also seemed to prevent slightly the appearance of new tumors....The improvement of health and appearance of the treated animals in comparison to controls is always a common observation....Dr. Sugiura has never observed complete regression of these tumors in all his cosmic experience with other chemotherapeutic agents.

Laetrile controversy

In 1972, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center board member Benno Schmidt convinced the hospital to test laetrile in order to assert its ineffectiveness "with some conviction". Sugiura found that laetrile inhibited

secondary tumor 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, ...

s in mice, without destroying the

primary tumor A primary tumor is a tumor growing at the anatomical site where tumor progression began and proceeded to yield a cancerous mass. Most cancers develop at their primary site but then go on to metastasize or spread to other parts of the body. These fur ...

, but in a

blind test In a blind or blinded experiment, information which may influence the participants of the experiment is withheld until after the experiment is complete. Good blinding can reduce or eliminate experimental biases that arise from a participants' expec ...

was unable to conclude that laetrile had anticancer activity. The initial positive results were not published because, in the words of Chester Stock, Sugiura's supervisor, "it would have caused all kind of havoc." Nevertheless, they were leaked in 1973, causing a stir. Consequently laetrile was tested on 14 tumor systems, and a Sloan-Kettering press release concluded that laetrile showed no beneficial effects. Three other researchers were unable to confirm Sugiura's results. Mistakes in the Sloan-Kettering press release were highlighted by a group of laetrile proponents, led by Ralph W. Moss, former public affairs official of Sloan-Kettering hospital, who was fired when he announced his membership in the group. These mistakes were considered inconsequential, but Nicholas Wade in ''Science'' noted that, "even the appearance of a departure from strict objectivity is unfortunate." The results of all of the studies were published together in the ''Journal of Surgical Oncology''.Published in '
Journal of Surgical Oncology 10(2)
'.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sugiura, Kanematsu 1890 births 1979 deaths Alternative cancer treatment advocates Cancer researchers