Charles Brenton Huggins (September 22, 1901 – January 12, 1997) was a Canadian-American surgeon and physiologist known for his work on

prostate The prostate is an male accessory gland, accessory gland of the male reproductive system and a muscle-driven mechanical switch between urination and ejaculation. It is found in all male mammals. It differs between species anatomically, chemica ...

function,

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

, and

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

. Born in Halifax in 1901, Huggins moved to the United States for medical school. He was one of the founding staff members of the University of Chicago Medical School, where he remained for the duration of his professional research career. Huggins's work on how

sex hormone Sex hormones, also known as sex steroids, gonadocorticoids and gonadal steroids, are steroid hormones that interact with vertebrate steroid hormone receptors. The sex hormones include the androgens, estrogens, and progestogens. Their effects a ...

s influence prostate function ultimately led to his discovery of hormone therapies to treat prostate cancer. For this finding, he was awarded the 1966

Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute, Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single ...

. In addition to his work on prostate cancer, Huggins explored the relationship between hormones and breast cancer, developed an

animal model An animal model (short for animal disease model) is a living, non-human, often genetic-engineered animal used during the research and investigation of human disease, for the purpose of better understanding the disease process without the risk of ha ...

for breast cancer, and developed chromogenic substrates that are widely used for biochemical analyses. Huggins continued to perform research into his 90s; he died in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in 1997.

Early life and education

Charles Brenton Huggins was born September 22nd, 1901, in Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

, to Charles E. Huggins and Bessie Maria Spencer. At 19, he graduated from

Acadia University Acadia University is a public, predominantly Undergraduate education, undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some Postgraduate education, graduate programs at the master's level and one at the Doctorate, doctor ...

with a BA degree, supplementing his Acadia coursework with summer courses in physical and organic chemistry at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. Huggins went on to

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

, and received his MD degree in 1924. He served his internship and residency in general surgery with Frederick A. Coller at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. While at Michigan, Huggins met operating room nurse Margaret Wellman; they married in 1927.

Academic career

In 1927, Huggins was recruited to the new University of Chicago Medical School by chairman of surgery Dallas Phemister. As one of the eight original staff members of the school, Huggins was assigned to the

urology Urology (from Ancient Greek, Greek wikt:οὖρον, οὖρον ''ouron'' "urine" and ''wiktionary:-logia, -logia'' "study of"), also known as genitourinary surgery, is the branch of medicine that focuses on surgical and medical diseases of t ...

department, and had to rapidly teach himself the specialty. In 1931, Phemister offered Huggins a paid research sabbatical in Europe; Huggins spent several months at London's Lister Institute working in Robert Robison's lab to deepen his knowledge in biochemistry. He was promoted to

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

in 1933, and full

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

in 1936. In 1951, businessman and longtime financial supporter of Huggins's research Ben E. May endowed the Ben May Laboratory for Cancer Research at the University of Chicago. Huggins eventually became the May Laboratory's director, serving in the position until 1969. In 1962, he was granted an endowed professorship, the William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor. Notable students of Professor Huggins included Howard Guy Williams-Ashman, Shutsung Liao, Paul Talalay and A. Hari Reddi.

Research

A plaque in Professor's Huggins office carried his motto: "Discovery is our business." This motto signified his ethos to research and medical discovery. Huggins's early research work focused on bone physiology. However, he eventually felt this bone work was unlikely to lead to medical progress, and set it aside in favor of studying the male urogenital tract. Through the 1930s, Huggins published work characterizing the constituents of

semen Semen, also known as seminal fluid, is a bodily fluid that contains spermatozoon, spermatozoa which is secreted by the male gonads (sexual glands) and other sexual organs of male or hermaphrodite, hermaphroditic animals. In humans and placen ...

and which organ ( seminal vesicles or prostate) they derive from. In 1939, Huggins described a method for isolating prostate fluid from dogs, which served as the foundation for much of his subsequent work. He showed that the prostate requires androgens (male sex hormones) in order to function, and that androgen treatment could be counteracted by treatment with estrogens. In the course of this work, he discovered that older dogs tended to have enlarged prostates, and that these enlarged prostates could be shrunk by administering estrogen. In 1940 and 1941, Huggins – along with students Clarence V. Hodges and William Wallace Scott – published a series of three papers detailing his most famous finding: that counteracting androgen activity by

orchiectomy Orchiectomy (also named orchidectomy) is a surgery, surgical procedure in which one or both testicles are removed. The surgery can be performed for various reasons: *treatment for testicular cancer *as part of gender-affirming surgery for trans ...

(surgical removal of the testicles) or estrogen treatment shrank tumors in many men with metastatic prostate cancer. These men experienced dramatic pain relief within days of the treatment; four of the original 21 treated went on to survive more than 12 years from the original treatment. Huggins's work on prostate cancer often necessitated measuring the amount of prostate-derived enzymes in the blood. To this end, Huggins developed colorimetric methods for quantifying the concentration of various

phosphatase In biochemistry, a phosphatase is an enzyme that uses water to cleave a phosphoric acid Ester, monoester into a phosphate ion and an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol. Because a phosphatase enzyme catalysis, catalyzes the hydrolysis of its Substrate ...

s, glucuronidases, and

esterase In biochemistry, an esterase is a class of enzyme that splits esters into an acid and an alcohol in a chemical reaction with water called hydrolysis (and as such, it is a type of hydrolase). A wide range of different esterases exist that differ ...

s. These assays relied on chromogenic substrates (substances that change color in response to a given enzyme), a term Huggins coined, and a concept he pioneered. In the 1950s, Huggins went on to show an analogous relationship between sex hormones and breast cancer – tumor growth was stimulated by estrogens, and slowed by androgens. At the time breast cancer research was hindered by the lack of an

. Huggins described the first reliable model: 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene administered orally to rats, 100% of which rapidly developed breast tumors; the model is now called Huggins's tumor. Around this time, Huggins wound down his surgical practice, turning his attention to full-time scientific research. Huggins published over 200 peer-reviewed papers describing his research.

Honors

Huggins was elected to the United States

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

and the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1949. In 1962, he was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

, and was awarded the

Lasker Award In 1945 Albert Lasker and Mary Woodard Lasker created the Lasker Awards. Every year since then the award has been given to the living person considered to have made the greatest contribution to medical science or who has demonstrated public ser ...

the following year. In 1966, following nominations from noted surgeon J. Hartwell Harrison as well as Nobel laureates Otto H. Warburg, William P. Murphy, and

Albert Szent-Györgyi Albert Imre Szent-Györgyi de Rapoltu Mare, Nagyrápolt (; September 16, 1893 – October 22, 1986) was a Hungarian biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937. He is credited with first isolating vitamin C and disc ...

, Huggins was awarded the

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, acco ...

"for his discoveries concerning hormonal treatment of prostatic cancer". From 1972 to 1979, Huggins was named the ceremonial

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

of his alma mater, Acadia University. His prize, shared with fellow cancer researcher Peyton Rous, was just the second Nobel for cancer treatment or research.

Personal life

Huggins and his wife Margaret had a son and a daughter. His son, Charles E. Huggins, was also a surgeon, and directed the Massachusetts General Hospital blood bank until his death in 1990. Margaret Huggins died in 1983. Huggins devoted much of his time to laboratory work, logging long hours in the lab, and continuing to perform hands-on laboratory work in his 90s. Huggins died on January 12, 1997, in

, Illinois, aged 95.

References

External links

*
Ben May Department for Cancer Research
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huggins, Charles Brenton 1901 births 1997 deaths Acadia University alumni American Nobel laureates American physiologists Canadian physiologists Canadian people of English descent Canadian Nobel laureates Harvard Medical School alumni Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine People from Halifax, Nova Scotia University of Chicago faculty Canadian oncologists 20th-century American physicians Recipients of the Lasker–DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Canadian emigrants to the United States Members of the American Philosophical Society