Late determinants of cancer

The paper reviews some findings on the frequency of latent carcinoma. Latent carcinomas are found much more frequently in the prostate, than would be expected from mortality or incidence data. The same applies to neuroblastomas in the adrenal cortex in infants. The problem has not been studied in detail in other organs. A satisfactory explanation of spontaneous regression of human cancers or the variable disease-free survival time of cancer patients has not been found. It is concluded that defence mechanisms of paramount importance exist, and need to be studied. Recent reports on serum retinol and serum cholesterol are reviewed since these are both lower in people who later develop cancer. Much more knowledge is needed but these phenomena could be linked.