In vivo effect of a new mineral condensed ion (HPA 39) on murine Friend leukaemia.

HPA 39 is a tungsto-antimoniate compound, closely related to the mineral consensed ion HPA 23, from which it differs only by the presence of a potassium instead of a sodium ion inside the central cage. A single parenteral injection of HPA 39 on the same day as virus inoculation decreased the splenomegaly induced by Friend virus in DBA/2 mice and protected 90% of the infected animals against leukaemia. It also lowered the virus content in spleen extracts compared to untreated animals. The efficiency of treatment with HPA 39 on leukaemic mice at a late stage of the disease suggested that the compound may act at the cellular level as well as by inducing virus growth inhibition. HPA 39 also induced an early decrease of peripheral blood reticulocytes, and of the most differentiated erythroblasts in the bone marrow 1 day after injection of the compound. Mineral condensed ions therefore appear to have multiple biological effects both in vitro and in vivo.