Tuszynski G P, Cossu G
Cancer Res. 1984 Feb;44(2):768-71.
Gossypol, a yellow pigment from the cotton plant (Gossypium) was found to have anti-tumor cell effects against several tumor cell lines grown in tissue culture. Most sensitive to the drug were melanoma and colon carcinoma cells. After 24 hr of treatment with 10 microM gossypol, over 90% of these cells were killed. A rough correlation existed between very rapidly growing cells and their sensitivity to the drug. For example, slow growing cells, such as normal embryonic lung fibroblasts and mammary adenocarcinoma, were least sensitive, requiring over 30 microM gossypol in order to kill 90% of cells after 48 hr of treatment. These results indicate that gossypol has differential cytotoxic effects against certain tumor cell types, such as melanoma and colon carcinoma, and suggest that it might be of potential therapeutic value. The drug appears to act as a metabolic poison rather than as an agent interfering with DNA synthesis at the concentrations used in the study. Cells sensitive to the drug contain the more cathodic forms of lactate dehydrogenase, lactate dehydrogenases I to III.
棉酚是一种从棉花植株（棉属）中提取的黄色色素，已发现它对在组织培养中生长的几种肿瘤细胞系具有抗肿瘤细胞作用。对该药物最敏感的是黑色素瘤细胞和结肠癌细胞。用10微摩尔棉酚处理24小时后，超过90%的这些细胞被杀死。生长非常迅速的细胞与其对药物的敏感性之间存在大致的相关性。例如，生长缓慢的细胞，如正常胚胎肺成纤维细胞和乳腺腺癌细胞，最不敏感，在处理48小时后，需要超过30微摩尔棉酚才能杀死90%的细胞。这些结果表明，棉酚对某些肿瘤细胞类型，如黑色素瘤和结肠癌细胞，具有不同的细胞毒性作用，并表明它可能具有潜在的治疗价值。在该研究中使用的浓度下，该药物似乎作为一种代谢毒物起作用，而不是作为一种干扰DNA合成的试剂。对该药物敏感的细胞含有乳酸脱氢酶I至III的更多阴极形式。
