Effect Of 6-mercaptopurine Research Articles

The Effect of 6-Mercaptopurine on the Incorporation of Labeled Amino Acids into Cellular Protein of Chronic Granulocytic Leukemia Leukocytes

Abstract The leukocytes of chronic granulocytic leukemia incorporate labeled valine and leucine at a higher rate than normal leukocytes. 6-mercaptopurine causes significant decrease in the rate of amino acid incorporation into cellular protein of leukemic cells. The onset of a sharp decrease in the amino acid incorporation rate by granulocytic leukemic cells occurs only after several days of therapeutic oral doses of 6-mercaptopurine. The decrease in incorporation rate precedes the decrease in circulating leukocytes by several days, indicating that damage to a vital function of these cells occurs before their disappearance from the blood stream. The decrease in the amino acid incorporation rate persists as long as the leukemia is in remission and even after therapy has been stopped; it exists until exacerbation occurs. Increase in incorporation accompanies exacerbation of the leukemic cell count. A possible action of 6-mercaptopurine is its role in interference with amino acid incorporation into cellular protein of chronic granulocytic leukemia cells.

Effect of 6-Mercaptopurine on the Net in vitro Gas Production of Sensitive and Resistant L1210 Mouse Leukæmia Cells

Effect of 6-Mercaptopurine on the Net in vitro Gas Production of Sensitive and Resistant L1210 Mouse Leukaemia Cells

Effect of 6-mercaptopurine on antibody production.

Summary1. The effect of 6-MP on antibody response of hyperimmunized rabbits has been studied. 2. When given simultaneously with the antigen, 6-MP profoundly suppresses the formation of humoral antibody. When given prior to antigenic stimulation, the effect of 6-MP on antibody production is slight. There is no effect on amount of antibody in the serum when 6-MP is given during the height of antibody production. 3. It has been tentatively concluded that the action 6-MP is on the primary antibody response, rather than on the anamnestic response.

Treatment of acute leukemia in children and adults.

Acute leukemia was treated in 46 children and 29 adults by five different therapeutic regimens. The largest group, consisting of 55 patients, received steroids (cortisone or prednisone) with 6-mercaptopurine; 9 received 6-mercaptopurine only, 5 received steroids only, and 6 received other forms of treatment. The remission rate for all the children treated was 77%; some went on to a second remission, and one went to a third. The rate of remissions for adults was only 17%, and there were no second remissions in any of the adult patients. The data on survival times proved difficult to compare. The duration of life was nearly the same in each group, as was the duration of therapy needed to induce remission. The duration of remission appeared to be longest in those patients who received a combination of 6-mercaptopurine and steroids, but the limited size of the other groups made comparison difficult. The steroid treatment caused a noticeable weight gain and some other undesired effects but no electrolyte imbalance, hypertension, or peptic ulcer. The undesired effect of 6-mercaptopurine was occasional, sudden, excessive leukopenia. The 50% survival time in the group who received 6-mercaptopurine was 9 months, and the 10% survival time was 19 months.

Effects of 6-mercaptopurine on respiration, anaerobic glycolysis and succino-dehydrogenase activity in normal and tumor tissues.

Chronic treatment with tolerated doses of 6-mercaptopur-ine causes a reduction of 50% or more in the respiration and anaerobic glycolysis of Sarcoma 180 while it does not impair the metabolic functions in liver and kidney. Succinic dehydrogenase activity of Sarcoma 180 is also impaired by treatment with 6-mercaptopurine, but this effect does not seem to be great enough to account fully for the observed reduction in respiration.