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M S Lui

Publications and source records attributed to M S Lui.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

Oncolytic activity and mechanism of action of a novel L-cysteine derivative, L-cysteine, ethyl ester, S-(N-methylcarbamate) monohydrochloride.

A study on the oncolytic activity of the L-cysteine derivative L-cysteine, ethyl ester, S-(N-methylcarbamate) monohydrochloride (NSC 303861), revealed that the drug caused complete regression of the MX-1 human mammary tumor xenograft. The compound also exhibited moderate antitumor activity against murine leukemia P388 (T/C value of 169% at a daily dose of 400 mg/kg) and against M5076 sarcoma (T/C value of 135% at a daily dose of 600 mg/kg). The drug was inactive against B16 melanoma, Lewis lung, colon 38 and CD8F1 mammary carcinomas. The compound exhibited significant cytotoxicity against hepatoma 3924A cells in culture (LC50 = 6 microM). Studies on the mechanism of action revealed that the cytotoxicity of the drug could be partially abrogated by protecting hepatoma 3924A cells in culture with L-glutamine. At 6 h after injection of the compound (400 mg/kg) into rats bearing hepatoma 3924A, the pools of L-glutamine and L-glutamate in the tumor decreased to 33% and 71%, respectively, of control levels; the drug selectively inhibited the activities of L-glutamine-requiring enzymes of purine nucleotide biosynthesis, amidophosphoribosyltransferase, FGAM synthase, and GMP synthase, to 21%, 1%, and 69%, respectively, without significantly altering the activities of pyrimidine biosynthetic enzymes, carbamoylphosphate synthase II and CTP synthase. Measurement of the nucleotide concentrations further corroborated the actions of the drug on the purine nucleotide biosynthetic enzyme activities. Drug injection (400 mg/kg) in the hepatoma 3924A-bearing rats reduced the concentrations of IMP in the tumor to 52%, those of total adenylates to 52%, those of total guanylates to 57%, and those of NAD to 73%, without significantly perturbing the pyrimidine nucleotide pools. Studies on the mechanism of action of the L-cysteine derivative suggested that the compound behaved as an L-glutamine antagonist, selectively acting on the enzymes of purine nucleotide biosynthesis.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Mechanism of resistance to tiazofurin in hepatoma 3924A.

Tiazofurin (2-beta-D-ribofuranosylthiazole-4-carboxamide, NSC-286193) has shown potent cytotoxic and antitumor activity against hepatoma 3924A carried in the rat [Lui et al. J. biol. Chem. 259, 5078 (1984)]. However, eventually the tumor emerged, proliferated and killed the host. To throw light on the factors that play a role in the resistance to this drug, a tiazofurin-induced resistant hepatoma 3924A line in culture was produced, and its biochemical and pharmacological pattern was examined. Resistance in hepatoma cells was expressed by a reprogramming of gene expression that entailed the display of a program of multiple biochemical alterations. In the resistant cells the activity of IMP dehydrogenase, the target enzyme of tiazofurin, was increased 2- to 3-fold. The steady-state guanylate pools were elevated 3-fold, and there was a decrease in the de novo synthesis of guanylate. There was an expansion of guanylate salvage, which could circumvent inhibition of de novo guanylate synthesis by tiazofurin. For the first time in studies on the resistance of different cell lines to tiazofurin, reduced tiazofurin transport (to 50%) in resistant hepatoma cells was identified which might account for the decreased concentration (50%) of the active metabolite, thiazole-4-carboxamide adenine dinucleotide (TAD), in these cells. NAD pyrophosphorylase activity also decreased to 53% of that of the sensitive line, which was responsible, in part at least, for the decreased TAD concentration of the resistant cells. When resistant cells were cultured in the absence of tiazofurin, resistance to the drug gradually decreased, and by 50 passages sensitivity returned. Resistance to tiazofurin in hepatoma cells appears to be a drug-induced metabolic adaptation which involves alterations in the activity of the target enzyme, in the transport and concentration of the drug and the active metabolite, and an increase of guanylate concentration and guanine salvage capacity.

Adenosine Monophosphate↗
PubMed1985

Regulation of purine and pyrimidine metabolism by insulin and by resistance to tiazofurin.

The purpose of this investigation was to elucidate the factors that regulate the pattern of gene expression in purine and pyrimidine metabolism in normal liver and hepatoma. For this purpose, the action of a hormone, insulin, and the development of resistance to a chemotherapeutic agent, tiazofurin, were studied. This investigation brought detailed evidence showing that in the rat insulin exerted a profound effect on liver purine and pyrimidine metabolism by regulating the concentrations of nucleotides through controlling the activities of strategic enzymes involved in their biosynthesis. When rats were made diabetic by alloxan treatment, in the average liver cell concentrations of ATP, GTP, UTP and CTP decreased to 66, 62, 54 and 63%, respectively, of those of normal liver. Administration of insulin for 2 days returned the hepatic nucleotide concentrations to normal range; further insulin treatment for an additional 5 days raised the concentrations of ATP, GTP, UTP and CTP to 197, 352, 412 and 792% of values observed in the liver of diabetic rats. In diabetic rats the hepatic activities of OMP decarboxylase, orotate phosphoribosyltransferase, uridine phosphorylase, uridine-cytidine kinase and uracil phosphoribosyltransferase decreased to 44, 48, 70, 36 and 41% of the activities of normal liver. Insulin treatment for 2 days returned activities to normal range. Continued insulin treatment for an additional 5 days increased the enzymic activities to 3.9- to 5.3-fold of those of the liver of the diabetic rats. The regulation by insulin treatment of the activities of enzymes of de novo and salvage synthesis of UMP should explain, in part at least, the decline and increase of the uridylate pool in diabetes and after insulin treatment. In the diabetic rat hepatic CTP synthetase, the rate-limiting enzyme of CTP biosynthesis, decreased to 53% and insulin administration for 2 days restored activity to normal range. Insulin treatment for an additional 5 days increased the synthetase activity to 4-fold of the values of the diabetic liver. Thus, the behavior of liver CTP synthetase activity is tightly linked with that of the CTP pool. In the diabetic rat liver, the activity of IMP dehydrogenase, the rate-limiting enzyme of GTP biosynthesis, decreased to 24% of that of the normal liver. Insulin administration for 2 days returned the activity to normal range, yielding a 4.5-fold increase in the activity from the diabetic to the insulin-treated state.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Inactivation by acivicin of rat brain CTP and GMP synthetases and depression of CTP and GTP concentrations.

Evidence was provided that injection of acivicin (25 mg/kg, i.p.) into the rat inactivated brain CTP and GMP synthetases. Under the same circumstances, CTP and GTP concentrations in the rat brain decreased following the decline in the activities of CTP and GMP synthetases. The decrease in enzymic activities and nucleotide concentrations progressed with time. The decline in CTP and GMP synthetase activities and CTP and GTP concentrations caused by acivicin occurred more slowly and to a lesser extent than in liver and hepatoma 3924A. The delay in the expression of acivicin action in the rat brain was attributed to a possible slower entrance of acivicin and the lower concentration than might have been attained in the rat brain. These considerations are based on the rapid disappearance of acivicin from rat plasma noted earlier. The decline in CTP concentration in rat brain might interfere with neuronal function. The decline in GTP concentration might be expressed through the depletion of biopterins which are generated from GTP in the brain. The possible relevance to the biochemical basis of paranoid schizophrenia which occurs reversibly after high-dose acivicin or tiazofurin treatment was discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Purine enzymology of human colon carcinomas.

The purpose of this study was to elucidate the purine enzymic programs of human primary colorectal carcinomas. Marked alteration in the enzymology of the human colon neoplasm clearly distinguished it from that of the normal colon mucosa. In the human colon mucosa, the activities of ribonucleotide reductase, inosine phosphate dehydrogenase, formylglycinamidine ribonucleotide synthetase, guanosine phosphate synthetase, and amidophosphoribosyltransferase were 0.042, 5.2, 5.6, 8.2 and 36.0 nmol/h/mg protein, respectively, and in the colon carcinomas the activities increased to 755, 575, 295, 280, and 294% of the normal values. The activities of the salvage enzymes, adenine and hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferases, were 310, 249, and 602 nmol/h/mg protein, respectively, whereas in the tumors, only the activity of adenine phosphoribosyltransferase was increased (2-fold). The markedly higher absolute enzymic capacity for salvage in the tumors accounts, in part at least, for the lack of chemotherapeutic success of inhibitors of enzymes of de novo synthesis that have been used in the clinical treatment of colorectal carcinomas. Combinations of inhibitors of de novo biosynthesis and blockers of the salvage enzymes or of salvage transport (e.g., dipyridamole) should improve the chemotherapy of colon neoplasms. Since in the colon carcinoma the activities of glutamine-utilizing enzymes (guanosine phosphate and formylglycinamidine ribonucleotide synthetase and amidophosphoribosyltransferase) were markedly increased, and the glutamine concentration was decreased (50%), treatment with an antiglutamine agent (e.g., acivicin) should be of relevance. Since the activity of ribonucleotide reductase, the rate-limiting enzyme of nucleic acid biosynthesis, was markedly increased in the colon neoplasms, combination chemotherapy might include drugs against this enzyme.

Colon↗
PubMed1984

Tiazofurin-induced selective depression of NAD content in hepatoma 3924A.

The NAD content in hepatoma 3924A was approximately 40% of that in the liver of ACI/N rats bearing this hepatoma. Treatment of tumor-bearing rats with tiazofurin decreased NAD pools in the hepatoma, but no change was apparent in the liver. In a dose-response study, injection of varying amounts of the drug decreased NAD pools in the hepatoma in a dose-dependent fashion. In time-sequence studies, a single drug dose (200 mg/kg) depressed NAD pools in the hepatoma from 2 to 24 h after injection to approximately 50% of control at the lowest point before returning to control range at 48 h. The tiazofurin-induced depletion of NAD pools in the hepatoma to approximately 20% of that of normal liver might play a role in the anti-cancer action and toxicity of this drug.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Modulation of IMP dehydrogenase activity and guanylate metabolism by tiazofurin (2-beta-D-ribofuranosylthiazole-4-carboxamide).

Tiazofurin, a C-nucleoside, was cytotoxic in hepatoma 3924A cells grown in culture with an LC50 = 7.5 microM. In the culture, a closely linked dose-related response of tumor cell-kill and depletion of GTP pools was observed after tiazofurin treatment. In rats carrying subcutaneously transplanted hepatoma 3924A solid tumors, a single intraperitoneal injection of tiazofurin (200 mg/kg) caused a rapid inhibition of IMP dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.1.14) activity and depleted GDP, GTP, and dGTP pools in the tumor; concurrently, the 5-phosphoribosyl 1-pyrophosphate (PRPP) and IMP pools expanded 8- and 15-fold, respectively. Tiazofurin decreased tumoral IMP dehydrogenase activity and dGTP pools in a dose-dependent manner over a range of 50-200 mg/kg; by contrast, the depletion of GTP and the accumulation of IMP and PRPP pools were near maximum at 50 mg/kg. The increase in PRPP pools may be attributed to an inhibition by IMP of the activity of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (EC 2.4.2.8). The IMP dehydrogenase activity and the pools of ribonucleotides returned to the normal range by 24-48 h after the single injection of tiazofurin. However, the markedly depleted dGTP pools remained low for 72 h. Tiazofurin treatment resulted in significant anti-tumor activity in rats inoculated with hepatoma 3924A. The decrease in GTP levels and particularly the sustained depletion in the dGTP pools may explain, in part at least, the chemo-therapeutic action of tiazofurin on hepatoma 3924A. This is the first report showing that a marked therapeutic response was achieved against rapidly growing hepatoma 3924A by treatment with a single anti-metabolite.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Control of enzymic programs and nucleotide pattern in cancer cells by acivicin and tiazofurin.

The mechanism of action of acivicin and tiazofurin was compared in hepatoma 3924A. The results were evaluated by assessing the impact of these drugs on primary targets, the activities of key enzymes, and on secondary and tertiary targets, the concentrations of pools of ribonucleotides and deoxyribonucleotides. The action of acivicin entails inhibition and inactivation of the key enzymes of glutamine utilization in the biosynthesis of purines and pyrimidines. As a result, the GTP and CTP pools were markedly depleted, whereas those of ATP and UTP were unaffected. Acivicin also markedly decreased the concentrations of all 4 deoxynucleoside triphosphates. The nucleotide pools returned to normal or near normal range within 2 to 3 days after a single acivicin injection. The pharmacologic targets of acivicin in anticancer chemotherapy include prominently the activities of glutamine-utilizing enzymes and the pools of GTP and CTP and all 4 dNTP's. These biochemical targets also serve as indicators of acivicin action in cancer cells. The action of tiazofurin in hepatoma cells entails the primary target, IMP dehydrogenase. The subsequent effects include marked enlargement of IMP and PRPP pools and depletion of the pools of GDP and GTP. The increased IMP concentration selectively inhibited the activities of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase, but did not affect that of adenine phosphoribosyltransferase. The markedly decreased GTP pool de-inhibited the activity of AMP deaminase which permitted the channeling of AMP to IMP. An important indicator of tiazofurin action is the prolonged depletion of dGTP pools and similar but less pronounced declines in the pools of dCTP and dATP. In contrast, dTTP pools were increased. The crucial biochemical targets and indicators of tiazofurin action in sensitive cancer cells include inhibition of IMP dehydrogenase, a decrease in the concentrations of GDP, GTP, dGTP, dCTP, dATP and marked rise in the pools of IMP, PRPP and dTTP. Measurements of the molecular targets and indicators of drug action should be helpful in identifying cancer cells and tissues sensitive or resistant to the action of acivicin or tiazofurin. Identification of the targets and indicators should also be helpful in the design of frequency of administration of the drugs in combatting animal and human neoplasia.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Salvage capacity of hepatoma 3924A and action of dipyridamole.

The role and behavior of the salvage enzymes in the biosynthesis of purines (adenine and hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferases) and pyrimidines (uridine-cytidine, deoxycytidine and thymidine kinases) were elucidated. In liver purine metabolism the transferase activities were orders of magnitude higher than the activities of the enzymes of de novo biosynthesis. In both purine and pyrimidine biosynthesis the activities of the enzymes of the de novo pathways were low (23 pmol to 70 nmol/hr/mg protein), whereas those of salvage synthetic pathways ranged from 0.8 to 1,470 nmol/hr/mg protein. In purine metabolism the salvage enzymes had markedly higher affinity to the shared substrate PRPP (4 to 40 microM) than the rate-limiting enzyme of de novo synthesis, amidophosphoribosyltransferase (900 microM). In rapidly growing hepatoma 3924A the activities of the enzymes of de novo purine biosynthesis increased, whereas those of the salvage pathway changed little. However, the activities of the enzymes of the salvage pathways remained much higher than those of the enzymes of de novo purine production. In pyrimidine production in the hepatomas the activities of both de novo and salvage enzymes markedly increased. However, the activities of the salvage enzymes far outstripped those of the enzymes of the de novo pathways. To inhibit the operation of the salvage pathways, the action of the transport inhibitor, dipyridamole, was examined. In tissue culture, dipyridamole inhibited the transport of purine and pyrimidine nucleosides with an IC50 of 10(-6) or 10(-7) M. As measured by colony-forming assay, dipyridamole killed hepatoma cells with an IC50 of 20 microM. Dipyridamole markedly depressed the pools of ATP, GTP, CTP and UTP; in combination chemotherapy with acivicin, an anti-glutamine agent, synergistic action was observed on the pools of nucleotides in hepatoma 3924A in vivo. These investigations emphasize the importance of the capacity to utilize precursors by the salvage enzymes and may explain, in part at least, the failure of inhibitors of the de novo pathways to yield lasting chemotherapeutic results. Combination chemotherapy of inhibitors of the de novo pathways with an inhibitor of the salvage pathways (dipyridamole) should impact on our understanding of the contribution of salvage pathways and provide a rational basis for successful combination chemotherapy of neoplastic diseases.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Effects of acivicin and dipyridamole on hepatoma 3924A cells.

Dipyridamole inhibited the incorporation of cytidine, thymidine, uridine, and guanosine in rat hepatoma 3924A cells with 50% inhibitory concentrations of 0.2 to 0.5 microM. For deoxycytidine, the 50% inhibitory concentration was about 100 times higher (23.8 microM). Addition of a combination of cytidine, deoxycytidine, and guanosine, at an optimal concentration of 80 microM each, protected the hepatoma cells from the growth-inhibitory action of the antiglutamine drug, acivicin. The protection provided by the nucleosides was blocked by dipyridamole (6 microM), but not by nitrobenzylthionosine (30 microM). The effect on cell survival of graded concentrations of 0.25 to 1.75 microM acivicin plus dipyridamole (5 microM) and 80 microM concentrations each of cytidine, deoxycytidine, and guanosine was investigated. At an acivicin concentration of 1.75 microM, survivals in the different groups were: (a) acivicin alone, 1%; (b) acivicin plus dipyridamole, 1%; (c) acivicin plus nucleosides, 78%; and (d) acivicin plus nucleosides plus dipyridamole, 3%. Acivicin and dipyridamole were cytotoxic for hepatoma 3924A cells with 50% inhibitory concentrations of 0.5 and 20.3 microM, respectively, as measured by clonogenic assay.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Biochemical pharmacology of acivicin in rat hepatoma cells.

The antiglutamine agent acivicin, L-(alpha S,5S)-alpha-amino-3-chloro-4,5-dihydro-5-isoxazoleacetic acid, inhibited the growth of hepatoma 3924A cells in culture. After 7 days of incubation with the drug, an LC50 of 1.4 microM was observed by determination of colony forming ability. A combination of cytidine (1 mM), deoxycytidine (10 microM) and guanosine (10 microM) completely protected the hepatoma cells against the cytotoxic action of acivicin, but each nucleoside by itself had no effect. Acivicin (0.1 mM) inhibited the incorporation of uridine and thymidine into macromolecules, but not that of leucine. Acivicin depressed the pools of CTP, GTP, dCTP, dGTP and dTTP to 46, 62, 40, 64 and 53%, respectively, but it increased UTP level to 152% of the values of untreated cancer cells. The activity of a highly purified CTP synthetase (EC 6.3.4.2) from rat liver and hepatoma 3924A was inhibited by acivicin. The inhibition was competitive with respect to L-glutamine, and the Ki values with liver and hepatoma enzymes, determined by Dixon and reciprocal plots, were 1.1 and 3.6 microM respectively. The hydroxy analog of acivicin was also a competitive inhibitor, but it was less effective than acivicin, with a Ki value of 1.8 mM for the hepatoma enzyme. Our observations on the impact of acivicin on the behavior of pools of ribonucleotides and deoxyribonucleotides and the competitive inhibition of purified CTP synthetase from hepatoma cells suggest that a major mechanism of action for this drug is the inhibition of CTP synthetase and GMP synthetase (EC 6.3.5.2).

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Rapid in vivo inactivation by acivicin of CTP synthetase, carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase II, and amidophosphoribosyltransferase in hepatoma.

A single injection of the anti-glutamine drug, acivicin (NSC 163501), in tumor-bearing rats in 30 min decreased the activities of amidophosphoribosyltransferase, carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase II and CTP synthetase to 56, 50, and 7% of those of the controls. By 1 hr the activities were down to 32, 13 and 3% and they remained low for 12 hr, after which they slowly returned towards normal range in 72 hr. The decline of the activity of CTP synthetase (a loss of 80% in 10 min) was the most rapid, and the activity only returned to 60% of the controls by 3 days after the acivicin injection. In the hepatoma the concentrations of ATP and UTP changed little, but those of GTP and CTP rapidly decreased, reaching at the lowest point 32 and 2%, respectively, of control values 2 hr after acivicin; concentrations started to rise at 12 hr, reaching normal levels by 48 hr. The drop in enzyme activities preceded the decline in the pools of GTP and CTP. The behavior of enzyme activities and nucleotide concentrations in the host liver had a pattern similar to that in the hepatoma; however, the changes were less extensive than those in the tumor. The differential response between tumor and liver is attributed, in part at least, to the tissue L-glutamine concentration which in the hepatoma (0.5 mM) was 9 times lower than in the liver (4.5mM). The selectivity of acivicin action in inhibiting glutamine-utilizing enzymes is also demonstrated by the lack of effect on aspartate carbamoyltransferase, an enzymic activity which resides in the same complex as that of carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase II. The rapid decline in the activities of glutamine-utilizing enzymes is attributed to an inactivation of the enzymes by acivicin which functions as an active sitedirected affinity analog of L-glutamine. The rapid modulation of the enzymic phenotype and ribonucleotide concentrations by acivicin provides a useful tool for elucidating the role of enzymic and nucleotide imbalance in the commitment of cancer cells to replication and in the targeting of anticancer chemotherapy.

Amidophosphoribosyltransferase↗
PubMed1982

Multi-enzyme-targeted chemotherapy by acivicin and actinomycin.

On the basis of our observation of the increased specific activities of glutamine-utilizing enzymes in purine and pyrimidine metabolism in hepatoma 3924A, and because the concentration of glutamine is ten times lower in the hepatomas than in the liver, the biochemical pharmacology of the anti-glutamine agent, acivicin, was examined. (1) Acivicin competitively inhibited the activities of amidophosphoribosyl-transferase, CTP synthetase and carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase II from extracts of liver and hepatoma 3924A. (2) In addition to the competitive inhibition exerted by acivicin, evidence was obtained that this drug also irreversibly inactivated in vitro the glutamine-utilizing enzymes. It is particularly relevant for the selectivity of acivicin that the activity of aspartate carbamoyltransferase, an enzyme present in the same complex as carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase II, was not affected by the anti-glutamine agent. (3) Acivicin in vivo brought down the activities of glutamine-utilizing enzymes in a period of 10 min to 1 hr after injection. CTP synthetase activity declined to less than 10% of that observed in the uninjected rats. The decreases were not reversible by various in vitro methods, but in vivo the activities returned to normal range in 72 hr. (4) The activity of aspartate carbamoyltransferase, which exists as a multi-enzyme complex with synthetase II, was not altered by acivicin injection. Similar results were observed in transplantable sarcoma in the rat. (5) The acivicin-induced decrease in enzymic activities could not be restored by purification of the enzymes. (6) In vitro studies indicated that addition of acivicin to liver or hepatoma extracts or purified enzymes rapidly decreased enzymic activities; the activities could not be restored. These results are consistent with an interpretation that acivicin acts either as a tight-binding inhibitor or as an inactivator through alkylation of the enzymes of glutamine utilization. (7) Acivicin in combination with actinomycin provided a synergistic kill of hepatoma cells in tissue culture and also inhibited the growth of transplantable solid hepatoma 3924A in the rat. (8) The synergistic biological results of combination chemotherapy with acivicin and actinomycin can be accounted for by the action of acivicin in inhibiting GMP and CTP synthetases, resulting in a decrease in GTP and CTP content, and by the actinomycin-caused inhibition of RNA polymerase in selectively blocking the utilization of GTP and CTP.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Rat hepatomas: chemotherapy with lycurim and pyrazofurin.

Hepatoma 8999 was sensitive to Lycurim [1,4-di-(methylsulfonyloxy-ethylamino)-1,4-dideoxy-ms-erythritol] with a mean lethal dose (LD50) of 8.1 X 10(-8) M for a 6-hour treatment in vitro. The drug dose lethal to 10% of the rats with Lycurim (10 mg/kg) injected ip 12 times into hepatoma 8999-bearing BUF rats at 10-day intervals provided a mean increase in life-span (ILS) of 156%. The more rapidly growing, less differentiated hepatoma 3924A was tenfold less sensitive to Lycurim in vitro, and three treatments in vivo (10 mg/kg given every 8 days) gave an ILS of only 18% in ACI/N rats. Because hepatoma 8999 had a high adenosine kinase activity, the effect of Pyrazofurin (PF; 3-beta-D-ribofuranosyl-4-hydroxypyrazole-5-carboxamide) was examined in vitro: The LD50 was 8.5 X 10(-8) M in a 6-hour exposure. In hepatoma 3924A, with a fifteenfold lower adenosine kinase, the LD50 was 22-fold higher. Three treatments with PF (4 mg/kg given every 2 days) in hepatoma 8999 caused an 18% ILS and no host toxicity, but in hepatoma 3924A no significant ILS was observed. Lycurim combined with PF (0.05 microM each) in hepatoma 8999 cells in vitro provided synergistic kill, but Lycurim and PF (0.3 and 1 microM, respectively) in hepatoma 3924A cells yielded summation. When 10 rats with hepatoma 8999 were treated 15 times with the optimal dose of Lycurim (7.5 mg/kg every 10 1/2 days), 1-year survivors numbered 7. Alternate doses of Lycurim (7.5 mg/kg) and PF (3 mg/kg) at 5-day intervals for 4 months to 10 rats gave an ILS of 152% with eight 1-year survivors and no host toxicity.

Adenosine Kinase↗