Novel lipid analogs with cytostatic and cytocidal activity.

1-0-Alkyl diol and glyceryl ether lipids with a quaternary ammonium polar head group were synthesized and the cytotoxicity (IC50) tested against KB cells, with low 1-0-alkyl-cleavage activity, and rat hepatoma 77 cells with relatively high 1-0-alkyl-cleavage activity. The original premise was that the compounds would be inactivated by the cleavage enzyme and thus be selectively toxic to cells with less of the enzyme. Results with two other cell lines with equivalent cleavage enzyme, HL-60 and K562-4, however, are not consistent with this premise.