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Tumoricidal activity of Kupffer cells augmented by anticancer drugs
1First Department of Surgery, Kyoto University School of Medicine, Japan.
Abstract:
The effect of Mitomycin-C (MMC) and Adriamycin (ADM) on the antitumor-associated function of Kupffer cells was examined. MMC and ADM enhanced the production of superoxide by Kupffer cells in cultures at low concentrations likely to occur in clinical use. The expression of interleukin-2 receptor, Ia antigen and asialoGM1 antigen, measured by flowcytometry, was increased by contact with MMC. Growth inhibition of AH130, rat ascites hepatoma, and P815, murine mastocytoma, by Kupffer cells treated with anticancer drugs was greater than that by Kupffer cells alone or anticancer agent alone. These results show that MMC and ADM activate Kupffer cells, leading to synergistic antitumor activity. The results suggest that some anticancer agents act through immunological mechanisms as well as through direct antineoplastic activity.