Cytostatic, cytocidal and potential antitumor properties of a class of quinoid compounds, initiators of the dormant state in the spores of Agaricus bisporus.

Evidence indicates that dormancy is initiated in the spores of Agaricus bisporus by two quinoid compounds that appear in the zygote during the prodromal period of sporulation. Both are derivatives of a phenol, gamma-L-glutaminyl-4-hydroxybenzene. When purified, these quinoids specifically inhibit mitochondrial respiratory enzymes and protein synthesis in the mushroom and have comparable effects with rat liver mitochondria and ribosomes, with intact bacteria, and with bacterial ribosomes and RNA polymerase in vitro. Five species of mouse ascites tumor cells showed prompt and marked inhibitions of nucleic acid and protein synthesis when millimolar concentrations of these quinoids were added to the tissue culture medium of the tumor cells. Only a small percentage of the cells was killed immediately, as judged by trypan blue uptake. When large numbers of exposed BP8 sarcoma and EL4 leukemic cells were reinjected intraperitoneally into histocompatible mice, the survival times of these animals were notably prolonged beyond those of animals injected with tumor cells that had not been exposed to these inhibitors. In a dose-dependent manner, increasing concentrations of inhibitors produced proportionate increments in survival time, while higher concentrations totally abolished tumor cell growth. The findings indicate that these simple quinoid compounds, which initiate the dormant state in spores, produce a cytostatic state in mammalian tumor cells and thus potentially have strong antitumor properties (Am J Pathol 78:33-48, 1975).