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Etiology of Small Cell Lung Carcinoma

  • Chapter
Small Cell Lung Cancer

Part of the book series: Recent Results in Cancer Research ((RECENTCANCER,volume 97))

Abstract

With regard to morphology, biology, and therapy it seems justified to consider small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) separately from the other main forms of lung carcinoma (squamous cell, adenocarcinoma, large cell). This is expressed by the rough division of lung cancers into the small cell and non-small-cell groups. Regarding etiology, however, a separation of small cell carcinoma from the other types seems not to be justifiable and extremely difficult. Kreyberg (1962) has already combined squamous cell and small cell carcinomas into “group I tumors,” pointing out that these types have common causative factors, especially environmental carcinogens, including tobacco smoking, occupational hazards, and ionizing radiation. In recent years the “unitarian” theory of the origin of lung cancers, suggesting a common stem cell, has been revived and is replacing the theory of a separate histogenesis of SCLC from the neural crest. Biochemical investigations have revealed that the l-dopa decarboxylase, the key enzyme of the so-called APUD tumors (Pearse 1969), can be detected not only in SCLC but, though at lower levels, in any morphological type of lung cancer (Baylin and Gazdar 1981). Both in lung cancer cultures and in patients (at relapse) a morphological conversion from SCLC to non-SCLC histology has been observed (Gazdar et al. 1981; Fer et al. 1983). It is therefore not surprising that most lung carcinogens are associated with more or less the entire spectrum of lung cancer types in man.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Toxikologie und Chemotherapie, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 6900, Heidelberg 1, Federal Republic of Germany

    W. J. Zeller & D. Schmähl

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  1. W. J. Zeller
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  2. D. Schmähl
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Innere Klinik und Poliklinik (Tumorforschung) Westdeutsches Tumorzentrum, Universitätsklinikum Essen, Hufelandstrasse 55, 4300, Essen, Federal Republic of Germany

    Siegfried Seeber

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© 1985 Springer-Verlag Berlin · Heidelberg

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Zeller, W.J., Schmähl, D. (1985). Etiology of Small Cell Lung Carcinoma. In: Seeber, S. (eds) Small Cell Lung Cancer. Recent Results in Cancer Research, vol 97. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-82372-5_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-82372-5_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-82374-9

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