Influence of Cortisone on Connective Tissue—Epithelial Relations in Wound Healing, Hair Regeneration and the Pathogenesis of Experimental Skin Cancers

Abstract

MOST investigators agree that cortisone retards the development and diminishes the ultimate incidence of experimentally induced skin cancers¹. Boutwell and Rusch² reported the induction of papillomata but not of carcinomata to be diminished by cortisone. Piccagli et al. ³ claimed to have increased induction of tumours with methylcholanthrene by cortisone. These differences in opinion may perhaps be attributable to variations in dosage, route and time of administration of cortisone relative to the application of carcinogens. This seems likely, since Baker⁴, and we too, have shown that cortisone suppresses hair growth, while Andreasen and Engelbreth-Holm⁵ demonstrated that tumour incidence depends on the phase of the hair-cycle at the time of application of the carcinogen.