Reiko Tokuzen

Inhibition of Mouse Sarcoma 180 by a Wheat Hemicellulose B Preparation

WE have found that the polysaccharide preparation, termed hemicellulose B, isolated from wheat straw is highly active in inhibiting the growth and inducing regression of sarcoma 180 subcutaneously implanted in mice. The polysaccharide preparation has, however, only a slight effect on subcutaneous grafts of Ehrlich carcinoma and no recognizable effect on the growth of autologous grafts of spontaneous mammary adenocarcinomas. Certain polysaccharides from higher plants have been shown to inhibit growth of transplanted tumours, but the polymers also appeared toxic and none were well characterized1–13. Statolon from P. stoloniferium induces the production of interferon in animal cells14.

Liver changes in mice treated with lichen polysaccharides

Abstract Intraperitoneal injections of lichen polysaccharides into mice produced widespread multifocal mesenchymal cell accumulations in the sinusoids throughout the liver. The focal areas were well demarcated, containing epithelioid cells, lymphocytes, plasma cells, and macrophage-like forms as the predominant cell population. In later stages there were coalescence and hyaline degeneration of these cells, producing hyalinized masses containing the remains of the nuclei of the now disintegrated mesenchymal cells. These degenerative small foci underwent diminution in size and number, and finally the normal histologic picture of the liver was restored. The mice used in these experiments were of an inbred Swiss albino strain; the doses of lichen polysaccharides varied from a single injection of 150 mg/kg to daily injections of the same amount for 5–30 days. The production of the multifocal mesenchymal cell accumulation in the liver is a hitherto unknown biologic action of lichen polysaccharides, which may prove of value in the study of the structure-biologic activity relationship of lichen polysaccharides.

Immunological deviation between a transplantable tumor and its artificially converted ascitic variant.

Subcutaneous grafts of a transplantable mouse tumor were not affected in the least by treatment with plant polysaccharides known to inhibit allogeneic tumor grafts, while a strain of the same tumor artificially converted to the ascites form, also tested as s.c. grafts, was very drastically inhibited. Apparently the process of the artificial conversion brought about an immunological alteration of tumor cell population, and the ascites variant was no longer the same tumor as the original. The possibility of the process of ascitic conversion, including trypsin digestion, producing some alteration of cell membrane antigen was suggested. Subcutane Implantate eines transplantablen Mäusetumors wurden nicht im geringsten beeinflußt durch eine Behandlung mit Pflanzenpolysacchariden, die allogene Tumortransplantate verhindern, während eine künstlich erzeugte Ascites-Form desselben Tumors, die ebenso getestet wurde, sehr eindrucksvoll inhibiert wurde. Offenbar bringt der Vorgang der Umwandlung in die Ascites-Form eine immunologische Änderung der Tumorzell-population mit sich, d. h. die Ascites-Variante ist nicht länger derselbe Tumor wie der ursprüng liche. Die Möglichkeit wird in Betracht gezogen, daß die Umwandlung in die Ascites-Form ebenso wie die Trypsin-Verdauung mit einer gewissen Veränderung der Zellmembran-Antigene einhergeht.