Liver damaging effect of suramin in normal and carbon-tetrachloride treated rats

Male Fischer 344 (F344) rats were treated with phenobarbital + carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) for 16 weeks to induce liver cirrhosis. Another group of rats received 50 mg/kg iv suramin once a week for 16 weeks. The third group of rats was treated with both phenobarbital + CCl4 and suramin. After 16 weeks of suramin treatment, a massive periportal infiltration composed of macrophages, many of them containing glycosaminoglycans in their cytoplasm, mast cells, and other inflammatory cells were observed. This lesion was added to the liver cirrhosis caused by CCl4 in the group treated with suramin and CCl4. The changes in glycosaminoglycan metabolism caused by suramin did not influence the CCl4 cirrhosis. Since suramin has been reported to be a prototype of a new generation of antitumor compounds, we suggest caution in the use of chronic suramin treatment, especially in patients with livers which are already damaged.