was a Japanese

pathologist Pathology is the study of the causal, causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when us ...

who carried out pioneering work into the causes 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 ...

. He was the first to prove chemical

carcinogenesis Carcinogenesis, also called oncogenesis or tumorigenesis, is the formation of a cancer, whereby normal cells are transformed into cancer cells. The process is characterized by changes at the cellular, genetic, and epigenetic levels and abnor ...

. He was the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

nominee in 7 nominations.

Life

Yamagiwa was born in

Ueda, Nagano is a city located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 157,480 in 67,783 households, and a population density of 290 persons per km2. The total area of the city is , which makes it the fifth largest city in Nag ...

, the third son of the feudal retainer of the

Ueda Domain Ueda Castle, administrative centre of Ueda Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It is located in Shinano Province, Honshū. The domain was centered at Ueda Castle, located in what is now part of the city o ...

Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, whi ...

. He became the adopted son-in-law of Yoshiya Yamagiwa, a physician in Katsuya, Tokyo, and took the surname Yamagiwa. He completed his MD in 1888 from

Imperial University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

. He was appointed as a professor at the Medical School, Imperial University of Tokyo and published his landmark work, ''Byōri Sōron Kōgi'', in 1895. Yamagiwa extensively promoted cancer research in Japan. In 1907 ''

Cancer Science ''Cancer Science'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering research in oncology, which is published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Japanese Cancer Association. Established in 1907, the journal publishes original articles, editoria ...

'',

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

medical journal A medical journal is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that communicates medical information to physicians, other health professionals. Journals that cover many medical specialties are sometimes called general medical journals. History The first ...

covering research in

oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...

, was first issued by him. In addition, he and his colleagues found the

Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research The (JFCR) is a non-profit cancer research organization based in Ariake, Tokyo. The JFCR was founded in 1908 as the first Japanese organization specializing in cancer by Katsusaburō Yamagiwa and his supporters. The Cancer Institute and its att ...

in 1908. He died in Tokyo of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

in 1930 at the age of 67.

Contributions

In a series of experiments conducted in 1915, Yamagiwa and his assistant

Kōichi Ichikawa Kōichi, Koichi, Kouichi or Kohichi is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Kōichi can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *晃一, "clear, one" *幸一, "happiness, one" *光一, "light, one" *孝一, "filial ...

(1888–1948) induced

squamous cell Epithelium or epithelial tissue is one of the four basic types of animal tissue, along with connective tissue, muscle tissue and nervous tissue. It is a thin, continuous, protective layer of compactly packed cells with a little intercellula ...

carcinoma Carcinoma is a malignancy that develops from epithelial cells. Specifically, a carcinoma is a cancer that begins in a tissue that lines the inner or outer surfaces of the body, and that arises from cells originating in the endodermal, mesodermal ...

s on the ears of rabbits using

coal tar Coal tar is a thick dark liquid which is a by-product of the production of coke and coal gas from coal. It is a type of creosote. It has both medical and industrial uses. Medicinally it is a topical medication applied to skin to treat psoriasi ...

, demonstrating the latter's carcinogenic properties.

Recognitions

Yamagiwa and Ichikawa shared the Japan Academy Prize in 1919 for their work. The 1926

went to Johannes Andreas Grib Fibiger, for his discovery of ''

Spiroptera carcinoma ''Gongylonema neoplasticum'' (more famously as ''Spiroptera carcinoma'') is a roundworm parasite of rats. It was discovered by a Danish physician Johannes Fibiger in 1907. Fibiger and Hjalmar Ditlevsen made a formal description in 1914 as ''Spir ...

'', a microbial parasite which Fibiger claimed was the cause of cancer. This "finding" was discredited by other scientists shortly thereafter. Two years later, Katsusaburo Yamagiwa successfully induced

squamous cell carcinoma Squamous-cell carcinomas (SCCs), also known as epidermoid carcinomas, comprise a number of different types of cancer that begin in squamous cells. These cells form on the surface of the skin, on the lining of hollow organs in the body, and on the ...

by painting crude

on the inner surface of rabbits' ears. Yamagiwa's work has become the primary basis for this line of research. Because of this, some people consider Fibiger's Nobel Prize to be undeserved, particularly because Yamagiwa never received the prize for his work. In 1966, the former committee member

Folke Henschen Folke is a parish in the county of Dorset in southern England, situated in the Blackmore Vale, approximately south-east of Sherborne. The parish has an area of and is made of the villages of Folke and Alweston, and the hamlet of Bishops Down. ...

advocated that Yamagiwa deserved the Nobel Prize, but it was not realized.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yamagiwa, Katsusaburo Japanese pathologists Cancer researchers 1863 births 1930 deaths Deaths from pneumonia in Japan 19th-century Japanese physicians 20th-century Japanese physicians University of Tokyo alumni University of Tokyo faculty People from Nagano Prefecture