Work-related carcinogenesis

The objective of the programme is to elaborate and publish in the form of monographs critical reviews of data on carcinogenicity for agents to which humans are known to be exposed and on specific exposure situations to evaluate these data in terms of human risk with the help of international working groups of experts in ehemical carcinogenesis and related fields and to indicate where additional research efforts are needed. 

Since cancer of the scrotum in chimney sweeps was described in 1775, the incidence of work-related carcinogenesis (cancer-causing) has increased. One of the first to proclaim the relationship between certain industrial substances and cancer in workers exposed to toxic materials was Joseph Schereschewsky. In 1925, he completed a statistical review of the increase in cancer mortality over a 20-year period, and in 1927, advised the U.S. Public Health Service on a program of cancer research. Research in occupational cancer was among four recommendations submitted by a corrmiittee of investigators. 

It was much easier to discuss regulation in prokaryotes, in which so much of what is known comes from work on E. coli and related bacteriophages. In eukaryotes the important information comes from many quarters, and the array of processes is wider by far. We, therefore, needed to be brief and had to leave out a great deal. In so doing we pondered what was most important for students to know. To compensate for the necessary omissions we included an extensive reference list. Consult this for topics we left out or discussed only briefly. The supplements on immunobiology and carcinogenesis are also of value on those subjects. 

When they break down there are serious consequences such as ulceration and neoplasia. In this review, the role of intestinal operations as initiators of adaptive mucosal change will be emphasized and discussed in relation to their promotional effect on experimental intestinal (mainly colorectal) carcinogenesis. Finally, the role of bile salts in both these processes will be examined, and recent work from this department presented. 

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