Therapeutic activity of pretazettine, a narcissus alkaloid, on spontaneous AKR leukemia.

A narcissus alkaloid, pretazettine hydrochloride (PTZ) has been shown to be active against spontaneous AKR leukemia. The long-term treatment with PTZ begining at 5--7 months of age of a group of AKR mice containing 10--20% of advanced leukemic mice significantly prolonged the life span of the group. The therapeutic effectiveness of PTZ has been compared with several standard antileukemic drugs. PTZ decreased the AKR virus titer in the circulating blood of mice and its antiviral activity in AKR virus infected NIH/3T3 cells has been confirmed by XC assay.