Enhancing Effects of Agelasphin-11 on Natural Killer Cell Activities of Normal and Tumor-Bearing Mice

• Published in: Biological & pharmaceutical bulletin Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 350 - 353
• Main Authors: KOBAYASHI, Eiichi, MOTOKI, Kazuhiro, NATORI, Takenori, UCHIDA, Takeshi, FUKUSHIMA, Hideaki, KOEZUKA, Yasuhiko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan 1996; Maruzen; Japan Science and Technology Agency
• Subjects: agelasphin; Animals; Antineoplastic agents; antitumor agent; Biological and medical sciences; Chemotherapy; Female; Galactosylceramides - pharmacology; immunostimulating agent; Killer Cells, Natural - drug effects; Longevity - drug effects; Medical sciences; Melanoma, Experimental - immunology; Mice; Mice, Inbred Strains; natural killer cell; Neoplasm Transplantation; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Spleen - cytology; Spleen - drug effects; Stimulation, Chemical; α-galactosylceramide; Antineoplastic agent; Biological response modifier; Rodentia; Animal origin; Malignant tumor; Natural killer cell; Vertebrata; Chemotherapy; Immunostimulant agent; Mammalia; Treatment; Mouse; Animal
• ISSN: 0918-6158; 1347-5215
• DOI: 10.1248/bpb.19.350

Agelasphin-11 (AGL-11), a novel α-galactosylceramide isolated from an extract of a marine sponge, Agelas mauritianus, markedly prolonged the life span of mice intraperitoneally inoculated with B16 cells. Since AGL-11 did not show any direct cytotoxic activity against B16 cells, this compound is considered to be a biological response modifier (BRM). We focused on the enhancing effect of this compound on in vivo natural killer (NK) cell activity because several BRMs have already been determined to enhance the in vivo natural killer (NK) cell activity. When we evaluated the enhancing activity of AGL-11 using normal mice, AGL-11 enhanced in vivo NK cell activity more potently than Poly I : C, which is a positive control. In addition, we examined the effect of this compound on the NK cell activity of tumor-bearing mice, and found that AGL-11 recovers the reduced NK cell activity in a tumor-bearing condition to a higher level than that of normal mice. These results suggest that AGL-11 shows antitumor activity by the activation of antitumor effector cells such as NK cells.