Medicine: A Dillera Dollar

An anti-inflationary note was introduced into cancer research last week. Dr. David A. Karnofsky reported that for preliminary testing of anti-cancer drugs he uses the fertilized egg of the sand dollar—a lowly echinoderm, kin of the starfish, and a delight to beachcombing children.

The eggs, fertilized in a finger bowl with five drops of sand-dollar sperm, were put into the individual compartments of a plastic ice-cube tray (300 eggs to a "cube"), and kept in sea water. As they grew, Dr. Karnofsky added various concentrations of drugs known to be useful in treating cancer and noted the kind and degree of their effects. Against this base line, he could test hitherto untried substances and estimate their probable usefulness against cancer. The method will not replace the testing of drugs in animals, Dr. Karnofsky told the American Association for Cancer Research, but will serve as a preview.

One economic advantage: the sand dollar's eggs respond to minute amounts of drugs which are often scarce and expensive. Also, the sand dollar belies its name—its eggs cost nothing but the effort of collecting parent stock at Mount Desert, Me., where Dr. Karnofsky did his work.