Virginia Livingston (1906–1990) was an American

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and cancer researcher who advocated the unsupported theory that a specific species of bacteria she named ''Progenitor cryptocides'' was the primary cause of

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 ...

in humans. Her theories about ''P. cryptocides'' have not been duplicated by researchers, and a clinical trial of her therapy did not show any efficacy in the treatment of cancer. The

American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. Established in 1913, the society is organized into six geographical regions of both medical and lay volunteers operating in more than ...

, which did not support Livingston's treatment protocol for cancer, categorically denied her theory of cancer origins.

Life

Virginia Livingston was born Virginia Wuerthele in

Meadville, Pennsylvania Meadville is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. The city is within of Erie and within of Pittsburgh. It was the first permanent settlement in Northwestern Pennsylvania. The population was 13,388 at the 2010 censu ...

in 1906. Both her father and grandfather were physicians and she also pursued a degree in medicine. Prior to attending medical school, Livingston earned three BA degrees in English, history, and economics from

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

. She then attended New York University,

Bellevue Medical College Bellevue Hospital (officially NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and formerly known as Bellevue Hospital Center) is a hospital in New York City and the oldest public hospital in the United States. One of the largest hospitals in the United States b ...

and in 1936, received her degree in medicine. She was one of four women in her graduating class. Shortly after graduation, Livingston became the first female resident physician at a New York hospital where she was assigned to treat prostitutes infected with venereal diseases. While there, Livingston became interested in the study of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

and

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...

, and later

scleroderma Scleroderma is a group of autoimmune diseases that may result in changes to the skin, blood vessels, muscles, and internal organs. The disease can be either localized to the skin or involve other organs, as well. Symptoms may include areas of ...

, a disease affecting the tissues and skin. After studying scleroderma tissues with the darkfield microscope, she claimed to find an

acid-fast Acid-fastness is a physical property of certain bacterial and eukaryotic cells, as well as some sub-cellular structures, specifically their resistance to decolorization by acids during laboratory staining procedures. Once stained as part of a sam ...

organism that consistently appeared in her slides. Thinking that scleroderma had some characteristics that were like cancer, Livingston then began studying malignant tissues and subsequently claimed to find evidence of acid-fast organisms in every sample. It was this early research that prompted the young physician to devote her career to the study of a specific microorganism involved in cancer.

Early research

In 1946, Livingston published a paper in which she stated she had established that a

bacterium Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...

was a causative agent in scleroderma. In 1947, she cultured a mycobacteria-like organism in human cancer and, according to her peer-reviewed paper, fulfilled

Koch's postulates Koch's postulates ( )"Koch"
''

In 1949, Livingston was named chief of the Rutgers-Presbyterian Hospital Laboratory for Proliferative Diseases in New Jersey where she continued her cancer research. It was during this time that Livingston formed a lifetime association with Dr. Eleanor Alexander-Jackson of Cornell University. Jackson's specialty was the study of mycobacteria and particularly, the species responsible for tuberculosis. Jackson had developed specific culture media for growing the microbe and a technique for observing it known as the "triple stain" because she felt this microbe wasn't amenable to conventional modes of culturing and microscopy. Livingston and Jackson also collaborated on work on the Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) at Lederle Laboratories. Livingston claimed that when RSV cultures were passed through special filters designed to hold back all but the smallest virus particles, she was able to grow bacteria; this was considered a controversial claim since bacteria are considerably larger than viruses and should not exist in filtered RSV serum. After healthy animals were exposed to the Rous bacterial filtrates, Livingston and Jackson claimed that cancerous lesions developed. This finding led to speculation that such bacteria could be transmitted from poultry to humans and this became a primary reason Livingston ordered her cancer patients to not eat poultry while they underwent her treatment. Scientists have since rejected Livingston's findings, arguing there is no evidence supporting her claim. In 1956, Livingston published a paper suggesting a causative bacterium in

Wilson's disease Wilson's disease is a genetic disorder in which excess copper builds up in the body. Symptoms are typically related to the brain and liver. Liver-related symptoms include vomiting, weakness, fluid build up in the abdomen, swelling of the legs, ...

. In 1965, she reported isolation of a variably acid-fast mycobacterium in patients with myocardial vascular disease. During this time, she also began a small test trial of anti-bacterial vaccines made from the body fluids of cancer patients and reported moderate success. Between the years 1965-1968, Livingston received Fleet Foundation and Kerr Grants, and continued her investigation into a bacterial cause of human cancer. She also published a paper describing the presence of a substance identified as Actinomycin-D which she said could damage chromosomes and promote cancer. In 1969, Livingston and her husband Afton Munk Livingston, established the Livingston-Wheeler Clinic in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, and began formally treating cancer patients. The therapeutic program included autogenous vaccine made from killed bacteria derived from body fluids; a low sodium diet consisting of organic foods, fruits and vegetables high in a substance Livingston called "abscisic acid"; immune enhancing vaccines (gamma globulin, BCG) and antibiotics. Livingston prescribed antibiotics after cross testing them with patients' cultures to see which had the most antibacterial activity. Livingston also recommended that patients not consume poultry products based on her earlier research. After her husband's death, she married Owen Webster Wheeler, one of the first patients she claims to have successfully treated for head and neck cancer. Shortly after, the clinic was renamed the Livingston-Wheeler clinic. In 1970, Livingston officially named her cancer organism ''Progenitor cryptocides'', and presented her findings to the

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (originally the Lyceum of Natural History) was founded in January 1817 as the Lyceum of Natural History. It is the fourth oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization wit ...

. According to her biography, ''Progenitor'' was a pseudonym meaning "ancestral" and the name was chosen because Livingston believed the microbe existed as early as the

Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the ...

era, and it was an

endogenous Endogenous substances and processes are those that originate from within a living system such as an organism, tissue, or cell. In contrast, exogenous substances and processes are those that originate from outside of an organism. For example, es ...

component of life itself. The name "cryptocides" was a Greek and Latin word which meant "hidden killer". The microbe was classified under the order

Actinomycetales The Actinomycetales is an order of Actinomycetota. A member of the order is often called an actinomycete. Actinomycetales are generally gram-positive and anaerobic and have mycelia in a filamentous and branching growth pattern. Some actinomycete ...

. Livingston described ''Progenitor'' as an intermittently acid-fast mycobacterium that displayed highly variable growth cycles. According to Livingston the microbe was pleomorphic, and had

cell wall A cell wall is a structural layer surrounding some types of cells, just outside the cell membrane. It can be tough, flexible, and sometimes rigid. It provides the cell with both structural support and protection, and also acts as a filtering mech ...

-deficient and filter-passing forms resembling viruses, with the ability to adopt a variety of shapes including

spindle Spindle may refer to: Textiles and manufacturing * Spindle (textiles), a straight spike to spin fibers into yarn * Spindle (tool), a rotating axis of a machine tool Biology * Common spindle and other species of shrubs and trees in genus ''Euony ...

s, rods and

cocci A coccus (plural cocci) is any bacterium or archaeon that has a spherical, ovoid, or generally round shape. Bacteria are categorized based on their shapes into three classes: cocci (spherical-shaped), bacillus (rod-shaped) and spiral ( of whi ...

1974-1990

In 1974, Livingston published a paper which described her isolation of

human chorionic gonadotropin Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a hormone for the maternal recognition of pregnancy produced by trophoblast cells that are surrounding a growing embryo (syncytiotrophoblast initially), which eventually forms the placenta after implantation ...

(hCG) from cancer bacteria. She then advanced one of her central hypotheses. Livingston theorized that hCG is both a component of human cancer, but also innately involved in embryonic growth and fetal survival. She wrote that hCG is saturated in the placenta, and blocks the mothers’ antibodies from attacking the fetus, partly made of foreign DNA (and not recognized by host immunity). By the same token, hCG performs a similar function in cancer, conferring protection to malignant tissues. Livingston believed that after Progenitor hybridizes with cancer cells, it imparts an ability for them to produce hCG in a manner similar to that of the developing fetus. Based on this duality of function, Livingston called hCG “the hormone of life and the hormone of death”. She also stipulated that vaccines which target hCG-producing bacteria could also halt the progression of cancer. And she claimed that abscisic acid could also neutralize hCG.

Controversy

Though some bacteria have been associated with cancer (for instance ''

H. pylori ''Helicobacter pylori'', previously known as ''Campylobacter pylori'', is a gram-negative, microaerophilic, spiral (helical) bacterium usually found in the stomach. Its helical shape (from which the genus name, helicobacter, derives) is thoug ...

'' has been associated with

stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a cancer that develops from the lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a number of subtypes, including gastric adenocarcinomas. Lymph ...

) Livingston's postulated relationship between cancer and ''P. cryptocides'' was never proven in several follow up studies conducted by independent investigators. Researchers confirmed that bacteria provided by Livingston produced hCG, but several other studies demonstrated that numerous bacteria in both cancer patients and healthy individuals also produced the substance. Occurring before the existence of techniques to analyze DNA, Livingston and other investigators' ability to differentiate bacteria based on morphology and chemical characteristics was limited. However, even given technological limitations at the time, Livingston's classification methods were described as full of "remarkable errors", attributing characteristics to

(the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

Livingston believed ''P. cryptocides'' belonged to) shared by no other members of the order. Some evidence supports ''P. cryptocides'' is the result of a mistaken identification of a ''

Staphylococcus ''Staphylococcus'' is a genus of Gram-positive bacteria in the family Staphylococcaceae from the order Bacillales. Under the microscope, they appear spherical (cocci), and form in grape-like clusters. ''Staphylococcus'' species are facultative ...

'' strain of bacteria and later studies of the samples provided by Livingston proved to be ''

Staphylococcus epidermidis ''Staphylococcus epidermidis'' is a Gram-positive bacterium, and one of over 40 species belonging to the genus '' Staphylococcus''. It is part of the normal human microbiota, typically the skin microbiota, and less commonly the mucosal microbio ...

'' and ''

Streptococcus faecalis ''Enterococcus faecalis'' – formerly classified as part of the group D ''Streptococcus'' system – is a Gram-positive, commensal bacterium inhabiting the gastrointestinal tracts of humans. Like other species in the genus ''Enterococcus'', ''E ...

''. The American Cancer Society (ACS) did not support Livingston's treatment protocol for cancer, and has categorically denied her theory of the cancer bacterium ''P. cryptocides'' the primary cause of human cancer. The ACS also challenged the efficacy of Livingston's autogenous vaccine and concluded in its report that there was no corroboration of either ''P. cryptocides'' or the efficacy of her autologous vaccine. Since Livingston hadn't stocked earlier cultures of her alleged microbe, it is not possible to decipher precisely what those cultures contained.

Clinical testing

A case-control study using self-selected, matched but not

randomized In common usage, randomness is the apparent or actual lack of pattern or predictability in events. A random sequence of events, symbols or steps often has no order and does not follow an intelligible pattern or combination. Individual rand ...

groups with late stage cancer compared survival and quality of life between cancer patients receiving conventional treatment and those undergoing the Livingston-Wheeler therapy. The results were reported in ''

The New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one. His ...

'' in 1991, and found no differences in survival among patients whether treated conventionally, or via Livingston's treatment. The ''NEJM'' report also stated that when comparing the two groups, the "

quality of life Quality of life (QOL) is defined by the World Health Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards ...

were consistently better among conventionally treated patients from enrollment on". Based on this trial, the ACS deemed Livingston's cancer therapy without efficacy, and considered it an "unproven therapy". While both groups of patients in the trial deteriorated at equal rates, patients in the Livingston-treated group were reported to have had a "poorer quality of life" at the start of the trial. The study's lead investigator, Barrie Cassileth, acknowledged that "the University of Pennsylvania patients had a significantly better quality of life at all times, including enrollment" and that, quality of life "was different at base line", with Livingston's patients rated worse. Patients in both treatment arms also received conventional therapies in addition to Livingston's therapy. Livingston's patients also received BCG during the trial---an FDA-approved cancer adjuvant which has been found effective for several cancers, including those of the bladder and colon. At the study's conclusion, Barrie Cassileth commented: "This study...involved only patients with diagnoses and stages of disease for which there is no effective conventional treatment. Therefore, the results cannot be generalized to patients with less advanced stages of disease or to other treatment regimens." Cassileth also said, her study group "hypothesized that survival time would not differ between the two groups on the basis of the assumption that the unproved remedy would be no more effective with end-stage disease than conventional care, itself largely ineffective".

Death

Shortly after speaking before an Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) hearing on alternative cancer therapies and attending her 60th reunion at Vassar College in 1990, Livingston accompanied her daughter Julie Anne Wagner on a European trip. She developed chest pains while visiting the Greek islands and then succumbed to heart failure in Athens on June 30, before being transported to a Paris Hospital.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Livingston, Virginia 1906 births 1990 deaths 20th-century American women physicians 20th-century American physicians Alternative cancer treatment advocates Cancer researchers New York University Grossman School of Medicine alumni Vassar College alumni