Antitumor activity of cytotropic heterogeneous molecular lipids (CHML) on human breast cancer xenograft in nude mice.

Cytotropic heterogeneous molecular lipid (CHML), which is a new anticancer agent with US patent number 5,260,067, has recently been shown to suppress tumor cell growth in multiple tumor lines and induce apoptosis in vitro (1). These results indicate that CHML may be an effective antitumor agent. In the present study, using both local injection and intravenous injection, we have investigated the suppressive effect of CHML on human breast caner cells MCF-7 xenograft in nude mice. In the local injection, CHML was introduced into nude mice implanted with human breast cancer xenograft at doses of 25 mg/tumor area (cm2), 35 mg/tumor area (cm2), or 50 mg/tumor area (cm2), once every two days, total 3 times. The inhibition of tumor growth was 81.3%, 93.8% and 100%, respectively. In the intravenous injection, the nude mice bearing MCF-7 xenografts were treated with CHML at 10 mg/kg/day, or 15 mg/kg/day, or 20 mg/kg/day, once a day, total 7 days, the growth inhibition of tumor area was 58.1%, 77.4%, and 83.9%, respectively. At the same time, the toxicity of CHML was determined through examining the number of the white blood cell (WBC) and the activity of the serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (SGPT). However, no evident alterations of WBC and SGPT were detected in all animals treated with CHML, suggesting that CHML has little toxicity on nude mice. Taken together, these results indicate that CHML is an effective agent that suppresses breast tumor growth and suggest the possibility of using CHML in the clinical trial in the near future.