Abstract
Summary
Narcissus alkaloid (pseudolycorine and the residual alkaloid) in comparison with standard inhibitors of reverse transcriptase (ethidium bromide, rifamycin SV, acetyl adriamycin, and cinerubin A) were tested for their antiviral activities against Rauscher leukemia virus in mouse embryo cell cultures. The narcissus alkaloid remarkably suppressed the virus replication in mouse embryo cells, while rifamycin SV, acetyl adriamycin and cinerubin A were moderately inhibitory, and ethidium bromide showed no effect.
In the treatment of Rauscher leukemia in mice, with single-drug administration, the narcissus alkaloid showed a significant prolongation of the life span of leukemic mice, while acetyl adriamycin and cinerubin A were only slightly effective, and rifamycin SV and ethidium bromide were found to be ineffective. The triple combination treatments using narcissus alkaloids with 6-mereaptopurine and cyclophosphamide showed a superior prolongation effect on the survival time over two-combination treatments, which have been consistently demonstrated to be more effective than the administration of single agents.
We thank Dr. M. A. Chirigos of NIH for testing on reverse transcriptase; Dr. A. Hackett of Naval Biomedical Research Laboratory, Oakland, CA for supplying XC cells; and Dr. M. A. Apple of the Cancer Research Institute of the University of California for supplying acetyl adriamycin and cinerubin A. Appreciation is also expressed to Dr. P. Yoder of University of Hawaii for his criticisms and comments on the manuscript.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.