Tumor cytotoxicity of peritoneal macrophages induced by OK-432

In the present study we investigated the enhancement of cytotoxicity of peritoneal macrophages induced by OK-432. Rats received an i.p. injection of OK-432 at doses of 0.1, 0.5 or 1.0 KE/rat. Two days later, rats were sacrificed and peritoneal macrophages were isolated. Then the number of macrophages was counted, and the macrophages were analyzed for their lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) activity, acid phosphatase (ACP) activity, phagocytic activity, secretion of nitric oxide (NO) and cytotoxicity. The number of peritoneal macrophages, the activity of LDH and ACP, phagocytic activity, NO secretion, and cytotoxicity were increased with the increasing doses of OK-432. The results suggested that OK-432 enhanced tumor cytotoxicity of peritoneal macrophages by three steps. The first step is to attract a great number of macrophages into the peritoneal cavity. The second step is to enhance the phagocytic and eliminating function of these macrophages. The last step is to increase the non-contact cytotoxicity of macrophages.