Johannes Fibiger

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Johannes Andreas Grib Fibiger
J Fibiger.jpg
Born (1867-04-23)23 April 1867
Silkeborg
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Copenhagen
Nationality Danish
Known for Cancer Research
Notable awards 1926 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Johannes Andreas Grib Fibiger (23 April 1867 – 30 January 1928) was a Danish scientist, physician, and professor of pathological anatomy who won the 1926 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Fibiger had claimed to find an organism he called Spiroptera carcinoma that caused cancer in mice and rats. He received a Nobel prize for this discovery. Later, it was shown that this specific organism was not the primary cause of the tumors. Moreover, Katsusaburo Yamagiwa, only two years later in 1915 successfully induced squamous cell carcinoma by painting crude coal tar on the inner surface of rabbits' ears. Yamagiwa's work has become the primary basis for this line of research.[1] Because of this, some consider Fibiger's Nobel Prize to be undeserved particularly because Yamagiwa did not receive the prize.[2] Encyclopædia Britannica's guide to Nobel Prizes in cancer research mentions Yamagiwa's work as a milestone without mentioning Fibiger.[3]

Biography

Fibiger became a medical doctor in 1890 and studied under Robert Koch and Emil Adolf von Behring in Berlin. He received his research doctorate from the University of Copenhagen in 1895 and became a professor of Pathological Anatomy and Director of the Institute of Anatomic Pathology (1900) at the same University.[4]

Research

While studying tuberculosis in lab rats, Fibiger found tumors in some of his rats. He discovered that these tumors were associated with parasitic nematode worms that had been living in some cockroaches that the rats had eaten. He thought that these organisms may have been the cause of the cancer. In fact, the rats had been suffering from a vitamin A deficiency and this was the main cause of the tumors. The parasites had merely caused the tissue irritation that drove the damaged cells into cancer; any tissue irritation could have induced the tumors.[5][6][7]

Although the specific link between parasites and cancer was largely ignored, it was discovered later that tissue damage by parasites causes cancer. This was an important advance in cancer research, helminthology and epidemiology. Parasites such as Schistosoma haematobium, Opisthorchis viverrini and Clonorchis sinensis are now established to cause cancer in humans.[8][9]

One of his experiments from 1898 is regarded by some as the first controlled clinical trial.[10]

Rather ironically, he died of colon cancer.[11]

References

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  3. Guide to Nobel Prize. Britannica.com. Retrieved on 25 September 2010.
  4. Johannes Fibiger – Biography. Nobelprize.org (30 January 1928). Retrieved on 25 September 2010.
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Further reading

  • Nobel Lectures, Physiology or Medicine 1922–1941, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1965.
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External links