Relationship of Tetracycline to Carcinoma

Tetracycline fluorescence in experimental tumours

“…Subsequently these workers reported that a variety of tumours in experimental animals take up and retain tetracycline. Their findings in tumours in man and experimental animals have since been confirmed on many occasions (McLeay, 1958;Phillips, Cobb, Richards, Rhodes, Loehrer and Ritchie, 1960;Vassar, Saunders and Culling, 1960;Malek and Kolc, 1960;Milch, Tobie and Robinson, 1961;McLeay and Walske, 1962;Riley, 1963).…”

“…This applied to all the tumour cells irrespective of their degree of differentiation. Rall et al (1957), McLeay (1958 and Phillips et al (1960) Tetracycline has been found to persist longer in the gastric contents of patients with carcinoma of the stomach than in patients with benign lesions of the stomach and in normal control persons. Klinger and Katz (1961) Berk and Kantor (1962) Sandlow, Allen and Necheles (1963) and Sherman, Chryssanthou, Sukoff, Mininberg, Beckman and Weingarten (1963) said that this test was of diagnostic value for malignant lesions of the stomach but Aberle (1963), Rugtveit and Hope (1964) and Cummins, Gompertz and Kier (1964) have reported a large number of false positive tests in patients with benign lesions of the stomach.…”

“…Most workers consider that tetracycline is localised only in viable tumour tissue and is absent from necrotic areas (Rail, Loo, Lane and Kelly, 1957;Phillips et al, 1960;McLeay and Walske, 1962). On the other hand Vassar et al (1960) said that there was no tetracycline in live tumour tissue in human patients, and found it only in macrophages and tissue debris.…”