Einzelzellbiologie

Abstrakt

The Scientific Significance of the Role of the Thoracic Duct in Cancer Cell Transport: A Review

Wilson Onuigbo

This article draws attention to the historical role of the thoracic duct in cancer cell transmission. It begins with the important work of the great Sir Astley Cooper in 1798, who (i) believed that the thoracic duct was a vessel of great importance in animal economics, (ii) conducted experiments on cadavers and dogs, and (iii) performed the autopsy of a man who had died of testicular cancer that had spread to the thoracic duct via the lymphatics of the spermatic cord. In subsequent times, other giants of the same name, such as Paget, Hodgkin, Warren, and Andral, contributed their share to the knowledge of cancer transmission via this duct. No wonder that by 1895, classic embolic metastasis was firmly established in the record. A major modern textbook has been cited. Attention was then drawn to the observations made on 40 coiled thoracic ducts. It was concluded that in some ducts, necrosis of cancer cells occurred naturally during transport from the abdomen to the neck and back to the chest at the time of death. Consequently, it was hypothesized that scientific reproduction of this normal phenomenon, when the actively dying cells are obtained from consenting patients by cannulation and video microscopy, would in all probability indicate targeted therapy and eventual cancer cure.