Nishimoto Y, Yamakido M, Shigenobu T, Yukutake M, Matsusaka S
Gan To Kagaku Ryoho. 1986 Apr;13(4 Pt 2):1144-8.
Okunojima, a small island in the Inland Sea of Japan, off the shore of Takehara city was notorious for the production of poison gases from 1927 to 1945. Of the gases produced there, yperite and lewisite were the most poisonous and caused severe residual damage. It has been ascertained by studies conducted to date that the retired workers of this poison gas factory have a high risk of various types of malignant tumors including cancers of the respiratory tract. Such cancers observed in the retired workers from the poison gas factory are characterized by the following clinical features. Cancers are mainly central-type tumors with the site of development distributed from the airway to the hilar region and histologically, squamous and undifferentiated cell carcinoma predominate. Recently, the occurrence of malignant tumors has been discussed in relation to suppressed immune competence. Such disturbance of the immunological surveillance system seems to induce malignant changes of normal cells. On the other hand, we have demonstrated that the retired workers often showed impaired immunity. Therefore we considered that potentiation of immunity might possibly prevent the occurrence of malignant tumors and we took steps to enhance the immune competence of the retired workers with N-CWS. Its effect in preventing carcinogenesis will be shown in the near future.
大久野岛是日本濑户内海的一个小岛，位于竹原市海岸附近，在1927年至1945年间因生产毒气而臭名昭著。在那里生产的毒气中，芥子气和路易氏剂毒性最强，会造成严重的残留损害。迄今为止的研究已确定，这家毒气工厂的退休工人患包括呼吸道癌症在内的各种恶性肿瘤的风险很高。在毒气工厂退休工人中观察到的此类癌症具有以下临床特征。癌症主要为中央型肿瘤，发病部位从气道分布到肺门区域，从组织学上看，鳞状细胞癌和未分化细胞癌占主导。最近，恶性肿瘤的发生与免疫能力抑制有关。这种免疫监视系统的紊乱似乎会诱发正常细胞的恶性变化。另一方面，我们已经证明退休工人经常表现出免疫力受损。因此，我们认为增强免疫力可能会预防恶性肿瘤的发生，并采取措施用N-CWS提高退休工人的免疫能力。其在预防癌症方面的效果将在不久后显现。
