Urine of Pregnancy and Tumor Growth (Sarcoma 180)

Introduction This report concerns the fractionation of urine of pregnancy and the influence of two fractions upon the growth of sarcoma 180. The one fraction, containing a high prolan content, is tolerated by mice in a total dose corresponding to 3000 RE prolan units per mouse, produces no local indurations, affects neither caloric consumption nor body weight, and does not retard tumor growth. The other fraction, with a negligible prolan content, produces no local reactions, effects a loss in body weight, a decrease in caloric consumption, and a retardation in tumor growth. The results are interpreted as definitely establishing that prolan itself does not affect tumor growth, but that some other substances in urine of pregnancy cause tumor growth retardation by restricting caloric consumption and decreasing body metabolism. The literature leading up to these experiments has been reviewed previously (1). Experimental Standardization of Prolan: The prolan was standardized according to the method of Bischoff and Long (2). The prolan of the Winthrop Chemical Company is a German product and has been assayed by us (3). Ten German units prolan produced ovaries weighing 25 mg.; 10 of our units produced ovaries weighing 24 ± 2 mg. The agreement is within the limits of normal variation. It may therefore be assumed that our prolan unit approximated very closely the Zondek RE unit.