An immunomodulatory polysaccharide-rich substance from the fruit juice of Morinda citrifolia (noni) with antitumour activity

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Abstract

The fruit juice of Morinda citrifolia (noni) contains a polysaccharide-rich substance (noni-ppt) with antitumour activity in the Lewis lung (LLC) peritoneal carcinomatosis model. Therapeutic administration of noni-ppt significantly enhanced the duration of survival of inbred syngeneic LLC tumour bearing mice. It did not exert significant cytotoxic effects in an adapted culture of LLC cells, LLC1, but could activate peritoneal exudate cells (PEC) to impart profound toxicity when co-cultured with the tumour cells. This suggested the possibility that noni-ppt may suppress tumour growth through activation of the host immune system. Concomitant treatment with the immunosuppressive agent, 2-chloroadenosine (C1-Ade) or cyclosporin (cys-A) diminished its activity, thereby substantiating an immunomodulatory mechanism. Noni-ppt was also capable of stimulating the release of several mediators from murine effector cells, including tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), IL-10, IL-12 p70, interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and nitric oxide (NO), but had no effect on IL-2 and suppressed IL-4 release. Improved survival time and curative effects occurred when noni-ppt was combined with sub-optimal doses of the standard chemotherapeutic agents, adriamycin (Adria), cisplatin (CDDP), 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), and vincristine (VCR), suggesting important clinical applications of noni-ppt as a supplemental agent in cancer treatment. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Establishment of a cloned line of Lewis Lung Carcinoma cells adapted to cell culture.

P Janik, J Bertram (1980)

A cloned line of cells adapted to culture has been isolated from the Lewis Lung Carcinoma and has been designated the Lewis lung carcinoma line 1 (LLC1). It grows as a monolayer culture in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 2% fetal calf serum with a plating efficiency of about 94% and a doubling time of 21 h. LLC1 cells remain highly tumorigenic in C57B1 mice and produce primary tumors and lung metastases histologically indistinguishable from the original tumor line. The doubling time for a subcutaneous tumor derived from LLC1 cells was 23 h for a tumor mass of about 0.1 g and 40 h for a tumor mass of about 1 g. The cell line forms discrete colonies on a plastic substrate and can be used in a focus assay to determine drug induced cytotoxicity. Results with a number of chemotherapeutic agents are reported; in general, sensitivity measured in vitro does not correspond with published reports of sensitivity of the Lewis Lung carcinoma in vivo.

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The mechanism of action of FK-506 and cyclosporin A.

GREG WIEDERRECHT, ELSA LAM, SHIRLEY HUNG … (1993)

FK-506 and cyclosporin A (CsA) are potent immunosuppressive agents used clinically to prevent tissue rejection. Interest in the development of more effective immunosuppressive drugs has led to an intense effort toward understanding their biochemical mechanism of action with the result that these compounds have now become powerful tools used in deciphering the signal transduction events in T lymphocyte activation. Although chemically unrelated, FK-506 and CsA exert nearly identical biological effects in cells by inhibiting the same subset of early calcium-associated events involved in lymphokine expression, apoptosis, and degranulation. FK-506 binds to a family of intracellular receptors termed the FK-506 binding proteins (FKBPs). CsA binds to another family of intracellular receptors, the cyclophilins (Cyps), distinct from the FKBPs. The similarities between the mechanisms of action of CsA and FK-506 converge upon the calcium- and calmodulin-dependent serine-threonine protein phosphatase calcineurin (CaN). Both the FKBP/FK-506 complex and the Cyp/CsA complex can bind to calcineurin, thereby inhibiting its phosphatase activity. Calcineurin, a component of the signal transduction pathway resulting in IL-2 expression, catalyzes critical dephosphorylation events required for early lymphokine gene transcription.