How was chemotherapy discovered?

Cancer has been a part of our society since ancient times and yet we have not yet found a way to really cure it since, unfortunately, there are still many people who can not get over it. And the thing is even more surprising if we consider that the main treatment for this disease, chemo, was discovered by chance 80 years ago, a time when people died of diseases that are known to this day perfectly.

The history of chemotherapy goes back to World War I, between 1914 and 1918, when the Germans used the "mustard gas" for the first time. This "gas" was not the first chemical agent used in the war; Other toxic compounds had already been used, however, mustard gas was probably the most effective.

Ironically, mustard gas, at room temperature, is not a gas, but a liquid. The Germans dispersed it in the form of aerosol or inside of artillery bombs. Being inhaled this gas is highly disabling (it causes a collapse that requires weeks or even months of hospitalization) and often fatal. That is why those who threw him were forced to wear gas masks.

And what does mustard gas have to do with chemo?

Dr Stewart Alexander of the US Navy was commissioned to analyze the effects of mustard gas on US soldiers in the hope of finding an antidote capable of reversing them; And did not find any antidote, but did observe something that aroused his curiosity: a nitrogenous variant of mustard gas, HN2, was able to reduce the division of lymphoid and myeloid cells, a type of white blood cells characterized by rapid division. Following this finding pharmacologists Louis S. Goodman and Alfred Gilman were recruited by the United States Department of Defense to investigate the medicinal therapeutic potential of mustard gas.

The two pharmacologists hypothesized: If the mustard gas variant eliminated myeloid and lymphoid cells, it might also be toxic to cancer cells. They specifically studied their effects (in mice) on the cells of a lymphoma, a type of cancer derived from excessive and uncontrolled proliferation of lymphoid cells. And they were astonished that their hypothesis was valid. HN2 interfered significantly in tumor growth.

After the first successful test in an animal model they decided to test in humans, specifically in a patient suffering from lymphoma. The result was spectacular and the patient showed a very important reduction of the tumor cells, yes, in a transitory way (after a time it reproduced again). Even so, at a time when surgery was the only solution for cancer, treatment with HN2 was a very promising step, in fact, it was the first evidence that tumor growth could be controlled with pharmacological agents.

Currently HN2 is still used in conventional cancer treatments. It does not always cure it, but it is effective in slowing growth, especially in the early stages of the disease.

And so chemotherapy was born, a treatment based on a drug derived from a chemical compound designed to kill that today saves many lives.

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Source:
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