Revisiting Szent-Györgyi's Cancer Hypothesis

Abstract Rationale for this communication • -The promine/retine hypothesis on the control of cancer never reached a definite conclusion.• -The chemical natures of promine and retine remain unsettled though usually assumed to be glyoxalases and methylglyoxal.• -Many years ago we published some data that indicated the hypothesis may be operating in plants in which glyoxalase I may exist in normal cells in an inhibited state rather than compartmentalized as in early versions of the hypothesis.• -Manju Ray in India has published many papers claiming that methylglyoxal can be used to successfully treat cancer in humans.• -We present here previously unpublished data that shows depriving glyoxalase I of GSH allows methylglyoxal to kill mouse lymphoma cells. During treatment of two human cancer cell lines, killing of one line was enhanced by blocking thioredoxin as well as GSH.It is hoped that what is conveyed here may reignite interest in the near term. Nuclear methodology and statistics can be found in Figure 1. The data show a strong interaction between the hypothesis and thiols. It is concluded that the hypothesis has yet to be thoroughly investigated.