The Genetic Aspects of the Enzyme-Virus Theory of Cancer

Abstract

A discussion of the author''s theory of cancer which proposed that cancer is mainly the result of competition between 2 autosynthetic proteins: a normal enzyme protein vs. a cancer protein lacking certain specific catalytic properties possessed by the competing normal protein. It was pointed out that the "cancer protein" was not assumed to arise by a unique process but rather that it could be the end result of a variety of processes, and emphasis was placed upon the elucidation of the properties of the cancer protein rather than upon its possible mode of origin. It was pointed out that the genetic, properties of the cytoplasmic entities, referred to as plasmagenes, etc., by geneticists, should be correlated with their enzymatic properties.