was a Japanese

pathologist Pathology is the study of disease. 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 used in the context of modern medical treatme ...

who carried out pioneering work into the causes of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

, and was the first to demonstrate chemical

carcinogenesis Carcinogenesis, also called oncogenesis or tumorigenesis, is the formation of a cancer, whereby normal cell (biology), cells are malignant transformation, transformed into cancer cells. The process is characterized by changes at the cellular, G ...

. He was a 7-time

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

nominee.

Life

Yamagiwa was born in

Ueda, Nagano is a Cities of Japan, 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 la ...

, 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 ...

Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered 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 The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

. 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'',

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 Etymology, etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγ ...

, was first issued by him. In addition, he and his colleagues found the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research in 1908. He died in Tokyo of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

in 1930 at the age of 67.

Contributions

In a series of experiments conducted in 1915, Yamagiwa and his assistant Kōichi Ichikawa (1888–1948) induced

squamous cell Epithelium or epithelial tissue is a thin, continuous, protective layer of Cell (biology), cells with little extracellular matrix. An example is the epidermis, the outermost layer of the skin. Epithelial (Mesothelium, mesothelial) tissues line ...

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, mesoder ...

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 psoria ...

, 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'', 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 carcinoma (SCC), also known as epidermoid carcinoma, comprises 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 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 Academic staff of the University of Tokyo People from Nagano Prefecture Scientists from Nagano Prefecture