Pharmacological and toxicological studies of a new antitumor polysaccharide, schizophyllan.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to T Arika.
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Anti-tumor activity was studied in mice injected with Schizophyllan (SPG), a glucan produced by Schizophyllum commune Fries. SPG-injected mice rejected subcutaneously inoculated sarcoma-180 and the anti-tumor activity was shown to be mediated by host spleen and lymph node cells. The anti-tumor activity lasted as long as 60 days after the SPG administration as assessed by transfer of cells into normal recipients. Cells involved in anti-tumor activity were shown to be T lymphocytes since anti-tumor activity was diminished when lymph node cells from SPG-treated mice were treated with anti-Thy-1.2 sera plus complement, whereas cells passed through a nylon wool column retained the activity. Macrophages were also shown to be involved since administration of carrageenan or trypan blue into the host decreased the inhibition ratio of tumor growth. It was concluded that anti-tumor activity in SPG-treated mice was mediated by the cooperation of T lymphocytes and macrophages, thus the impairment of either function decreased anti-tumor activity.
Immunochemotherapy with schizophyllan (SPG) combined with chemotherapeutic agents was evaluated in two syngeneic tumor-C3H/He mouse systems. The administration of SPG alone caused a significant growth inhibition of MM 46 mammary carcinoma, the highest therapeutic effect being obtained by SPG given at the advanced stage of tumors. When combined with neocarzinostatin given 7-times every other day the simultaneous administration of SPG produced an optimal response to that therapy. In X-5563 plasmacytoma, SPG alone was ineffective. However, when combined with mitomycin C given with 1 to 5-days interval, the concurrent administration of SPG prolonged significantly the life-span of the tumor-bearing mice. These results indicated that the simultaneous administration of SPG and antitumor drugs may be a useful application method for immunochemotherapy of experimental tumors.