Effect of bouvardin (NSC 259968) on the growth characteristics an nucleic acids and protein syntheses profiles of P388 leukemia cells.

The plant product Bouvardin (BVD; NSC 259968) exhibited high activity against P388 murine leukemia and B16 melanoma, but it was not effect against various other tumor models. BVD inhibited the synthesis of all the macromolecules, namely protein, DNA and RNA, in P388 cells in vitro. Protein synthesis was most susceptible to the drug action. However, DNA and RNA synthesis were affected to a lesser extent. Further studies revealed that BVD did not inhibit protein degradation in P388 leukemia cells.