title: Swainsonine inhibition of spontaneous metastasis.
abstract: We have previously shown that swainsonine, administered systemically to C57BL/6 mice, inhibited the pulmonary metastasis of iv injected B16-F10 melanoma cells by a mechanism involving interleukin-2 production and augmentation of natural killer cell activity. From this finding, which uses an "experimental metastasis" model system, we considered: (a) whether swainsonine would be effective in the inhibition of authentic or spontaneous metastasis; (b) whether the drug would also inhibit metastasis formation in organs other than the lungs; and (c) whether the drug would block the metastasis of tumor cells of different histological type or origin. Our data indicated that swainsonine effectively inhibited the spontaneous metastasis of B16-BL6 melanoma (by 88%) and M5076 reticulum sarcoma (by 95%) murine tumor cells to the lung and liver, respectively. In both cases, the antimetastatic activity of the drug increased as a function of the concentration in drinking water up to 3 micrograms/mL. These findings indicate that the antimetastatic activity of swainsonine is not limited to artificial or experimentally induced metastasis nor to a single tumor type or specific organ. The inhibition of metastasis is likely due to a combination of events, which are currently under investigation.
authors.affiliation: Howard University Cancer Center, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC 20060.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Newton
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Humphries
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Olden
mesh_terms: D000470:Alkaloids / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D016403:Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse / Q000473:pathology; D008546:Melanoma, Experimental / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D017026:Swainsonine; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D000470:Alkaloids; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D017026:Swainsonine