Combination therapy of Schistosoma japonicum by tubercidin and nitrobenzylthioinosine 5'-monophosphate.

Coadministration of nitrobenzylthioinosine 5'-monophosphate (NBMPR-P) with high doses of tubercidin by i.p. injection into Schistosoma japonicum infected mice beginning 5 weeks post-infection was highly toxic to the parasite but not the hose. Combination therapy resulted in a striking reduction in the number of worms, and the few worms that could be found were stunted. Combination therapy also caused a drastic reduction in the number of eggs in the livers (from 86,500 to 2,800 eggs/liver) and intestines (from 2,200 to 74 eggs/cm2), and 95% of eggs that were found were dead, indicating the termination of oviposition. Mice receiving the combination of tubercidin plus NBMPR-P appeared healthy and had normal size livers and spleens. These results demonstrate that by combining NBMPR-P with tubercidin high selective toxicity against S. japonicum can be achieved, as was shown previously with S. mansoni.