Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 13, 1992 TAG: 9203130063
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short
Researchers at the National Cancer Institute report in today's issue of the journal Science that a compound called sulfated polysaccharide peptidoglycan, or SP-PG, is more effective in laboratory studies against Kaposi's than the drugs now commonly used against the cancer.
Shuji Nakamura, a University of Southern California scientist and an author of the study, said that SP-PG was tested both against laboratory cultures of Kaposi's sarcoma, or KS, and against lesions of the cancer that had been grown in laboratory mice that lack an immune system.
In both cases, said Nakamura, KS was stopped in its tracks.
"SP-PG specifically inhibited the growth of Kaposi's sarcoma cells on chicken cells and in nude mice," Nakamura said in an interview. "And during our experiment on mice, I did not see any type of side effect."
Nakamura said the effectiveness of SP-PG in controlling KS was then tested against three drugs, suramin, pentosan polysulfate and interferon alpha, all now commonly used to treat KS.
Human clinical trials of SP-PG are being organized, but Nakamura said he didn't know when they would start.
The SP-PG compound was isolated from soil by Daiichi Pharmaceutical Co. of Tokyo and found to naturally suppress the growth of blood vessels.
This finding prompted NCI scientists to test the drug against KS because the cancer feeds itself by wild growth of blood vessels.
by CNB