Angel Honorio Roffo Gazzo, Argentine oncologist (Buenos Aires 30 December 1882 – Buenos Aires 24 July 1947)

Performed over 400 studies about cancer and authored 6 books

ACHIEVEMENTS

Performed the first studies about action spectrum of skin photocarcinogenesis (1939)  

Showed that cholesterol is found in all malignant tumors of the skin and it is susceptible to the influence of solar radiations

Developed a stable compound with selenium, rubidium and eosine for cancer treatment

Developed a “culture box” for sterilization in autoclave

Recognized tobacco as most significant cause of lung cancer

Realized that the tar in cigarettes was primarily cancer responsible

His discoveries about tobacco as agent of cancer were forgotten and rediscovered by European and US researchers a few decades later

Tobacco as a carcinogenic agent. Amer. J. Cancer 32:294, 1938

Unidad cancerígena de los alquitranes de diversos tipos de tobacos. Bol. Inst. Med. Exper. Estud. Trat. Cancer 15:349-406, 1938

Described Roffo sarcoma

Sarcoma fusocelular del estomago. Bol. Inst. Med. Exper. Estud. Trat. Cancer (1937)

Identified polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as the principal carcinogenic agents in tobacco

Discovered benzopyrene in tobacco /cigarette

Krebsserzeugendes Benzpyren gewonnen aus Tabakteer. Zeitschr. f. Krebsforschung 49:588, 1939

Suggested a relationship between skin cancer and overexposure to the Sun

Krebs und Sarcom durch Ultraviolett und Sonnenstrahlen. Zeitschrift fur Krebsforschung 41:448-67, 1935

Described and named nodular myolisis

Miolisis nodular de la lengua. Prensa Med. Arg. 15:78-81, 1928-9

Developed Roffo neutral red reaction or test for cancer diagnosis 

With R. Rivarola. Reacción del rojo neutro en el cancer: su valor diagnostico. Bol. Inst. Med. Exper. Estudo Trat. Cancer 2:709-716, 1925

Le rouge neutre comme indicateur dans les processus d’autolyse des tissus normaux et pathologiques. Les Neóplasmes 3 (1926)

Described Roffo biological reaction of spleen

La reacción biologica del bazo en el cancer provocado por la sangre humana de cancerosos. Bol. Inst. Med. Exper. Est. Trat. Cancer 10:745-56, 1933

Contributions

Existencia en la sangre y en la orina de cancerosos y embarazadas de un principio activo de crecimiento esplénico. Bol. Inst. Med. Exper. Estud. Trat. Cancer 17:415-58, 1940

With A.E. Roffo. Resinificación del colesterol: nuevo derivado del colesterol (1939)

With L.M. Correa. La neoreacción de Botelho, segundo nueva técnica. Bol. Inst. Med. Exper. Bs Aires 18:49-54, 1928

With L.M. Correa. On the presence of insulinoid in malignant tumor. J. Cancer Res. 11(1):126, 1927

La sobrevida de los tejidos después de la muerte del sujeto. Su comprobación hasta veintitos diaz. Bol. Inst. Med. Exper. 3:118-75, 1927

With J.B. Rivarola. A refractometric property of the blood câncer patients, and its diagnostic value. Bol. Inst. Med. Exper. 1:68, 1925

Nuevo tumor transmisible en la rata blanca. Prensa Med. Argent. (1917)

With H. de Giorgi. Modification du milieu pour la croissance du tissu normal et du tissu neoplasique

With L.M. Correa. Sur une reaction chimique des rayons de Roentgen. Rev. Sud Amer.

Books (some)

Esteridos y cancer: estudio biológico, físico y químico (1942)

With J. Thomas. La chimie du cancer (1933)

Biologia del cancer (1925)

Papers in Lancet

Role of the ultra-violet rays in the development of cancer provoked by the sun. The Lancet 1:472-4, 1936

The photoactive function of cholesterol in skin câncer. The Lancet 2:1187, 1931

Comparative Oncology

Sobre un tumor paradentario en la corvina. Bol. Inst. Med. Exper. 2:28-42, 1925

Le sarcome des poissons. Neoplasmes 3:231-4, 1924

El câncer en los animales domesticos en la Argentina. Rev. Inst. Bacteriol. 1(3):333-40, 1918

HONORS

Guido Banti Prize, Universitá di Firenze (1936)

Gold medal, International Exposition of Panamá (1915)

Gran Prix, International Exposition of Brazil (1922)

Prix Berraute, Academie de Medecine de Paris

Prix Amerongen, Ligue Française contre le Cancer (1939)

President, Société Internationale de Recherches contre la Tuberculose et le Cancer de Paris (1930-2)

Honorary Member, First International Congress of ElectroRadiobology, Veneza, Italy (1934)

President, Committee for Cancerology Studies, IV International Hospital Association Congress, Toronto (1939)

Gold Medal & Honor Diplome, International Congress of Hygiene, Rome (1912)

Medicine & Physiology Nobel Prize nominee (1927, 1937 & 1940)

His son, Angel Eduardo Roffo Larroque, oncologist  and biophysicist (Buenos Aires 14 July 1909 – La Lucila, Buenos Aires Province 09 September 1985)

ACHIEVEMENTS

A new technique for determination of fluorescence

Nueva tecnica de la determinación de la fluorescencia en el Instituto de Medicina Experimental. Bol. Inst. Med. Exper. Estudo Trat. Cancer 58:975, 1941

A new filter for photo-fluorescence

Un Nuevo filtro para la fotofluorescencia. Bol. Inst. Med. Exper. Estudo Trat. Cancer 59: 93, 1942

A new method of calculating the dosage of radium

Nueva regla de calculo para mediciones em la radiumtherapia. Bol. Inst. Med. Exper. Estudo Trat. Cancer 59: 83-92, 1942

New technique for quantitative dosage of ultraviolet radiations

Nueva tecnica para la dosificación cuantitativa de las radiaciones ultraviolet en la practica del uso medico. Bol. Inst. Med. Exper. Estudo Trat. Cancer