[Response to OK-432 (picibanil) in cancer patients and change of immunological parameters for the administration of OK-432 (picibanil)].
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Penicillin-free-Picibanil was injected into the brain of Wistar/Fibiger strain rat to investigate the histological changes. Its effect on the growth of rat schwannoma inoculated in the brain was also examined histologically. Picibanil caused the most prominent but focal lymphoreticular cell reaction around the injected site in the brain 24 to 48 hours after injection. The cells infiltrating from the blood vessels were neutrophils, monocytes, lymphocyte-like cells, histiocyte-like cells and unidentified cells. This lympho-reticular cell reaction gradually subsided in the next 4 to 5 days. Neutrophils and monocytes (macrophages)stayed till the later phase. Two weeks later, the lesion was minimal with only mild glial changes. Picibanil was however, considered to exert at the site of injection neurotoxic and glia-toxic activity at a concentration of 0.1 KE/10 microliters. The rat schwannoma (T1) cells, when inoculated without any treatment, showed vivid growth in the brain and no lympho-reticular cell reaction was observed. When the T1 tumor cells, suspended in the Picibanil solution, were inoculated into the brain, no lymph-reticular cell reaction was observed 7 and 14 days after inoculation. However, when the rat was pretreated with Picibanil into the brain 7 days before inoculation, only a mild lymphoreticular cell reaction was observed around the T1 cells till 7 days after inoculation. Accordingly, Picibanil was considered to induce nonspecific immunological in the rat brain even around the glioma.
The effect of Picibanil, a streptococcal agent, on the development of liver injury after operations for urogenital cancer was studied retrospectively in the light of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity. The series comprised 32 cases receiving Picibanil and 33 controls with otherwise comparable clinical backgrounds. Picibanil reduced the incidence of postoperative ALT rise over 50 U/l within 6 weeks but increased it thereafter. The increase in ALT activity after 6 weeks was relatively small and was seen more often in patients given blood transfusions. It was interpreted as retardation and suppression of ALT rise and as being related to the induction of interferon or to immunopotentiation. Other antihepatotoxic effects of Picibanil, due to its antioxidant activity, for example, may also account for the prevention of the early postoperative rise in ALT activity.
Four patients with urinary bladder carcinoma were treated by combination therapy which consisted of hyperthermia vesical irrigation of two anticancer drugs (peplomycin and picibanil), intravesical instillation of those drugs and radiation. Following the therapeutic method we planned, 40 mg of peplomycin and 10 KE of picibanil in 1,500 ml of sterile distilled water was irrigated at 42 to 43 degrees C into the bladder for 3 hours; 40 mg of peplomycin and 10 KE of picibanil in 40 ml of sterile distilled water was instilled into the bladder; and, the focus was irradiated with 60Co to a focal dose of 200 rad 30 minutes later. This pattern of treatment was repeated once a week, 3 to 5 times in total. On the days this pattern was not taken, 5 KE of picibanil in 20 ml of sterile distilled water was instilled into the bladder cavity. Complete response was observed in one patient and partial response in 3 patients. The side effect was temporary irritable bladder symptom.
We administered a biological response modifier Picibanil (OK-432), attenuated Streptococcus pyogenes, via the dorsal vein of the penis after 70% hepatectomy in rats, and clarified the scavenging effect of Picibanil on free radicals generated in the regenerating liver. A group of 5 rats was intravenously administered with 25 KE/kg of OK-432 after hepatectomy, while the control group was given saline after hepatectomy. Serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase and the value of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances in serum and hepatic tissue after hepatectomy were serially measured, and these values were significantly lower in Picibanil treated animals than in control animals. Free radical production in the regenerating liver was also measured by electron spin resonance spectrometry, and OK-432 injection significantly reduced free radical production. These results suggested that OK-432 reduced hepatocellular damage in regenerating liver by inhibiting lipid peroxidation.
Streptolysin O, a thiol-activated exotoxin from group A beta-haemolytic streptococci, caused a dose-dependent depression of aniline hydroxylase, aminopyrine N-demethylase and ethylmorphine N-demethylase activities when added into the hepatic microsomal mixtures from male rats at concentrations 0.02-0.4 HU/mL in vitro. The activities of 7-ethoxycoumarin O-deethylase, 7-ethylresorufin O-deethylase and 7-pentylresorufin O-depentylase were not altered with the used concentrations of the toxin. Specific antibody against haemolytic action of streptolysin O added to incubation mixtures in vitro was not able to protect streptolysin-sensitive monooxygenases from the inhibition. The addition of streptolysin O (0.01-0.8 HU/mL) into the cytosol-containing medium did not significantly influence the activity of procainamide N-acetyltransferase. Immunomodulators picibanil (OK 432) and human recombinant interferon alpha 2A which are known to suppress oxidative metabolism in vivo in humans and animals, were without effect either on the cytochrome P-450-dependent monooxygenases or on the N-acetyltransferase activity when administered in vitro at the doses real in their clinical application (0.001-0.1 KE/mL of picibanil and 10-500 U/mL of alpha-interferon).
Picibanil (OK432), a pharmaceutical preparation of a low virulent Su strain of Streptococcus pyogenes, possesses cell regulatory activity particularly in its ability to augment natural killer (NK) cell activity and to activate macrophages to exert a tumoricidal effect both in vitro and in vivo. It is effective in retarding and/or inhibiting the growth of three different tumors: MBL-2 lymphoma, M109 alveolar adenocarcinoma, and B16 melanoma. The antitumor effect is mediated through regulation of NK cells and macrophages, possibly by its ability to stimulate the production and secretion of interferon and interleukin 1 and 2. It is a very effective adjuvant for tumor cell vaccines that elicit cytotoxic T-cell responses. Following cytoreductive chemotherapy (Cytoxan) Picibanil treatment leads to an earlier reconstitution of both bone marrow cellularity and differentiation to granulocyte-macrophage colonies.
Thermotherapy combined with tegafur (FT-207) and Picibanil was performed in 13 patients with cancer of the urinary bladder. The thermotherapy was performed using a closed circulation type of thermotherapeutic apparatus manufactured for this experiment, by way of a 3-way catheter. The flow rate of the perfusate was 150 ml/min at a constant temperature of 43 degrees C. The temperature was monitored at the inlet and outlet catheter of the urethral meatus. The thermotherapy was performed for a 6-hour period once a week. A tegafur 3000-mg suppository was given 2 hours before the thermotherapy, and Picibanil was added to the perfusate at the time of thermotherapy. No anesthesia was used. Complete disappearance of the tumor was observed in 1 case. The concentrations of tegafur in the serum, tumor and bladder wall were measured simultaneously. The levels obtained at two hours after rectal administration of the tegafur 3000-mg suppository were 19.420 mcg/ml for FT-207 and 0.025 mcg/ml for 5-FU in the serum, 13.170 mcg/g for FT-207 and 0.140 mcg/g for 5-FU in the bladder tumor, and 20.447 mcg/g for FT-207 and 0.252 mcg/g for 5-FU in the bladder wall. Eruption was observed in 1 case. No other side effects were noted.
Phytohemagglutinin (PHA), picibanil (OK432) and tumor promoting agent (TPA) were tested in various combinations for optimal induction of human interferon-gamma (HuIFN-gamma). It was found that the use of a mixture of all 3 inducers resulted in IFN production 2-3 times higher than either PHA (10 micrograms/ml) in combination with TPA (5 ng/ml) or picibanil (10 micrograms/ml) alone. The IFN was produced by T lymphocytes and could be neutralized by specific IFN-gamma antiserum. It was pH 2.0 labile and species specific.
We have previously reported the clinical effects of NF therapy (NCS + 5-FU) and NFO therapy (NCS + 5-FU + Picibanil) on patients with advanced carcinoma of the digestive organs. In the present study, (NHO therapy (NCS + HCFU + Picibanil) performed in 41 patients and 30 patients were evaluated for its clinical effects. In comparison with NHO, NF and NFO, partial regression (tumor regression exceeding 50%) was noted in 5 of 30 patients (16.7%) on NHO, which was superior to 7.4% on NF, but slightly inferior to 18.8% on NFO. However, six and twelve month survival rate and 50% survival month on NHO therapy were 31.6%, 10.5% and 4.6 months, respectively and they were superior to those of NF and NFO therapy. Though the incidence of the adverse effects by NHO was almost identical with that of NFO and not more frequent than that of NF therapy. Urinary frequency, hot sensation and urgency due to HCFU administration were observed approximately in 10% on NFO therapy. In the three modalities the advantageous clinical effects on patients with hepatic carcinoma irrespective of primary or metastatic were observed.
Thermotherapy combined with Tegafur and Picibanil was performed in 32 patients with cancer of the urinary bladder. The thermotherapy was performed with a closed circulation type of thermotherapeutic apparatus manufactured for trial, using a 3-way catheter. The flow quantity of the perfusate was 150 ml/min at a constant temperature of 43 degrees C. The temperature was monitored at the inlet and outlet catheter at the urethral meatus. The thermotherapy was performed for 6 hours once a week. Tegafur and Picibanil were added to the perfusate at the time of thermotherapy. No anesthesia was used. Complete disappearance of tumor occurred in 9 cases. The concentration of Tegafur in the serum, tumor and bladder wall was simultaneously measured. The serum levels after two hours of thermotherapy with 16 gm of dissolved Tegafur showed that FT-207 was 28.837 mcg/ml and 5-FU, 0.028 mcg/ml. After 4 hours the FT-207 was 36.464 mcg/ml and 5-FU, 0.040 mcg/ml. By the 6th hour FT-207 was 39.430 mcg/ml and 5-FU, 0.049 mcg/ml. After 24 hours FT-207 was 11.242 mcg/ml and 5-FU, 0.013 mcg/ml in the serum, while FT-207 was 8.205 mcg/g and 5-FU, 0.274 mcg/g in the bladder tumor, and FT-207 was 17.029 mcg/g and 5-FU, 0.157 mcg/g in the bladder wall. Nausea was observed in 1 case in which a large quantity of Tegafur was absorbed. No other side effects were noted.
TILs can be isolated and expanded in vitro in the presence of RIL-2. The resulting cells are highly cytotoxic in vitro and in vivo against a variety of tumor targets. Although most of the TILs bear T cell antigens on their cell surface, recent evidence suggests that natural killer (NK) cells may be part of the overall population of infiltrating cells. Based upon this evidence, we have evaluated the effects of Picibanil (OK-432), a well-known inducer of NK cell and T cell cytotoxicity, on TILs. OK-432 was administered intravenously at a dose of 100 micrograms, previously determined to be optimal for NK stimulation, to tumor-bearing animals. Two days later, control and experimental animals had their tumors harvested and processed in order to grow their TILs in vitro in complete medium containing RIL-2 at a final concentration of 1,000 U/ml. The following observations were made: 1) a greater than 300% increase in overall TIL number compared to controls on day 10 of culture returning to normal by day 30; 2) a marked increase in the percent of cells expressing cytotoxic and differentiation antigens in the experimental group compared to controls, such increase seen mostly from day 7 to day 10; 3) a marked increase in the cytotoxic activity of the experimental TILs against an NK-sensitive tumor target, the YAC-1 lymphoma, throughout the period of growth of the TILs (3-4 times controls) and to a lesser extent against an NK-resistant tumor target. These findings may have potential application, in immunotherapeutic trials against human tumors and may help to understand the reasons for the effectiveness of OK-432 in vivo against selected murine tumors.
Picibanil (OK432), an extract from streptococci, has been widely utilized to treat malignant ascites and pleural effusions. The antitumor mechanism is believed to include complement-mediated neutrophil activation. Employing a flow-cytometric analysis of actin polymerization as an indicator of cell activation as well as a tumor proliferation assay, we have found that monocyte-derived neutrophil-activating factors were involved in OK432-induced neutrophil activation as well as antitumor activity. OK432-stimulated (0.1 KE/ml; 0.01 mg/ml) monocyte supernatants (OKMS) induced neutrophil actin polymerization and chemotaxis. OKMS were responsible for neutrophil-mediated inhibition of human leukemic (CEM) cell proliferation and stimulated neutrophils to produce superoxide in the presence of CEM leukemic cells at an effector/target ratio higher than 20/1. In contrast, OK432 alone, OK432-stimulated lymphocyte supernatants, or OK432-stimulated neutrophil supernatants had no effect on neutrophil activation or suppression of tumor cell proliferation. OK432 in combination with mononuclear cells also had no effect on the inhibition of CEM cell proliferation. Pretreatment of OKMS at 56 degrees C for 30 min did not affect its ability to activate neutrophils, implying that complement activation is not responsible for the neutrophil activation. Supernatants from OK432-stimulated mononuclear cells, as determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and radioimmunoassays, contained high levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8; 1567 +/- 145 pg/ml) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF alpha; 2105 +/- 152 pg/ml), low levels of leukotriene B4 (800 +/- 45 pg/ml) and IL-1 beta (180 +/- 22 pg/ml), but interferon gamma was not detectable. IL-1 beta, IL-8, and TNF alpha transcripts, undetectable in untreated monocytes, increased significantly after 30-60 min exposure to OK432. These results suggest that neutrophil-activating factors from monocytes or resident macrophages may play an important role in the OK432-induced neutrophil activation and antitumor activity.
During the period from January 1981 to December 1983, two groups of a total of 51 patients (31 malignant astrocytomas, 17 glioblastomas, and 3 others) were treated with radioimmunochemotherapy using nimustine hydrochloride (ACNU) plus Picibanil (OK-432) (group A) and radiochemotherapy with ACNU only (group B) in a randomized controlled study. Group A consisted of 24 patients and group B of 27 patients. The differences in the background of the two groups were not statistically significant. Survival curves of both groups were shown by the Kaplan-Meier method. The postoperative survival rate at 1 year and 3 years was 70% and 30%, respectively, equal in both groups, and the differences between groups A and B were not statistically significant by the Cox-Mantel test. The side effects seen in group B were most prominent in the bone marrow, and severe leukopenia occurred. However, in group A leukopenia was suppressed after 2 months. Immunologic parameters, such as the purified protein derivative skin reaction test, did not change, but the streptococcus pyogenes Su-strain polysaccharide skin-reaction test became more positive after therapy in group A.
The effects of OK-432 (Picibanil) on estrogen receptor (ER) levels and subsequent tamoxifen (TAM) treatment were examined in 189 female Sprague-Dawley rats with 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced mammary cancers. When OK-432 was administered (0.1 KE/kg i.p. once weekly) for 12 weeks to the rats after DMBA, the average ER level of the TAM-responsive tumors in the OK-432-treated group was significantly higher than that in the control group. The antitumor effect of TAM was significantly greater in the OK-432-treated group. When OK-432 was administered to rats with established DMBA tumors, the average ER levels did not change significantly after 2 or 4 weeks of treatment. ER levels in the control group (no treatment) fell significantly after 2 or 4 weeks. These results suggest that hormone dependence of DMBA-induced rat mammary cancers may be maintained or augmented by the administration of OK-432.
OK-432 (picibanil), a streptococcal preparation, has a strong biological response modifier (BRM) function and is expected to produce clinical improvement and prolongation of survival in treated cancer patients in Japan. We were interested in whether OK-432 augments estrogen receptor (ER) levels in breast cancer. To investigate the effect of the BRMs on cellular growth and the characteristics of ER and progesterone receptors (PgR) in the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7, we used OK-432, Krestin (PSK), a protein-bound polysaccharide extracted from Coriolus versicolor, and lentinan, a fungal branched (1...3)-beta-D-glycan. OK432 and PSK dose dependently inhibited DNA synthesis of MCF-7 cells, and the 50% inhibitory concentrations of OK-432 and PSK were 1.2 KE (klinische Einheit, clinical unit)/ml and 200 micrograms/ml, respectively. Lentinan showed no direct anticancer effect in vitro. We found that OK-432 induced a 2-fold increase in ER levels in MCF-7 cells at 0.005 KE/ml, but not in PgR. Lentinan and low-dose PSK did not change ER or PgR levels, but high-dose PSK decreased ER and PgR. We also studied the combined effect of OK-432 and antiestrogens, tamoxifen (TAM) and DP-TAT-59. The combined treatment with OK-432 and TAM showed an additive inhibitory effect on MCF-7 cells. These results suggest that OK-432 may augment the therapeutic effect of TAM in breast cancer.
It has previously been demonstrated that the local administration of OK-432 (Picibanil) enhances the response of a murine tumour and normal tissue to elevated temperatures. The experimental animals were C3Hf/Sed mice and the tumours were the fourth generation isotransplants of a spontaneous non-immunogenic fibrosarcoma, FSa-II. The thermal enhancement ratio was greater for the tumour than for normal tissue, resulting in a favourable differential effect between normal and malignant tissues. Further studies were conducted to disclose the mechanism of OK-432 induced thermal enhancement. Although OK-432 showed a slight direct cytotoxic activity against tumour cells in vitro, the in vivo antitumour effect of combined OK-432 and hyperthermia treatments was greater than the effect expected from in vitro cytotoxicity, indicating the involvement of the host-mediated mechanisms. Whole body irradiation (WBI), which suppressed the host's immune reaction, did not affect the thermal enhancement mediated by OK-432, suggesting that radiosensitive cells (sensitive to WBI) were not involved in this process. As expected, the i.v. injections of the anti-mouse T-cell serum did not have any effect on the thermal enhancement of OK-432. The administration of blockers of the reticuloendothelium system, i.e. silica or trypan blue, did not inhibit the OK-432 induced thermal enhancement. Moreover, local intratumoural injections of normal or OK-432 induced macrophages showed no effect on tumour growth. The thermal enhancement by OK-432 was eliminated following treatments with anti-(asialo GM1) globulin. Despite the fact that the cytotoxic effect of anti-(asialo GM1) globulin was not selective to natural killer (NK) cells, all the experimental results indicated that NK cells were probably attributable to thermal enhancement by OK-432 in vivo. The NK cell activity was stimulated when the OK-432 was locally administered with hyperthermia.
Effects of sequential and combined immuno-endocrine therapies using OK-432 (Picibanil) and tamoxifen (TAM) on the growth of 7,12-dimethylbenz [alpha] anthracene (DMBA)-induced carcinoma were examined in 128 female Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. The rats were divided into six groups: control (no treatment), tamoxifen, OK-432, simultaneous immuno-endocrine OK-432 and TAM (OK-432 + TAM) therapy, two types of sequential immuno-endocrine therapy of the OK-432 and TAM groups [OK-432 (1 wk)----TAM (4 wk) and OK-432 (2 wk)----TAM (3 wk)]. Each group was treated consecutively for five weeks. The response rates in the TAM alone group, the [OK-432 (1 wk)----TAM (4 wk)] group and the [OK-432 + TAM (5 wk)] group were significantly higher than in the control group. When the results among the treated groups were compared, the response rate in the [OK-432 (1 wk)----TAM (4 wk)] group was significantly higher than in the OK-432 alone or TAM alone groups. The response rate in the [OK-432 (2 wk)----TAM (3 wk)] group, however, was lower than in the TAM alone group. The response rate in the OK-432 + TAM group was, moreover, not significantly superior to that in the TAM alone group. These results suggest OK-432 not to potentiate the antitumor effect of TAM since the response rate of the combined OK-432/TAM therapy was not always significantly superior to that of the TAM treatment.