Chemical analyses and antitumor activity of hydrosoluble substances from Mycobacterium bovis, strain BCG

Hydrosoluble substances from BCG were prepared by cold water extraction and by hot phenol-water extraction. Chemical analyses revealed that both of them were derived from cytoplasm. The cold water extract (CWE) was effective in the treatment of C3H/He mice which had received an intraperitoneal inoculation of a syngeneic ascites hepatoma, MH134. The growth of a graft in footpad of mastocytoma P815 in CDF1 mice was retarded by intraperitoneal injections of CWE. A peptidoglycan from cell wall prepared by digestion with lysozyme exerted no antitumor activity in the same experimental condition as for the evaluation of antitumor effect of CWE. These results indicate that the antitumor activity of CWE was not due to the presence of a cell wall component.