[Experimental and clinical studies of bestatin as an immunomodulator]

The experimental and clinical effects of bestatin were examined and the results obtained were as follows. Bestatin which is an immunomodulator discovered by Umezawa did not increase the bone marrow stem cells examined by the method of the spleen colony assay in the 60Co irradiated mouse. However, it prolonged the survival time slightly when it was administered 10-25mg/kg intraperitoneally. Clinically, bestatin was administered to the patients with gastrointestinal cancer. It did not influence on the PHA-induced lymphocyte blastformation rate, but it increased the peripheral lymphocyte count and PPD skin reaction in the cases of curative resection and increased the peripheral lymphocyte counts in the cases of nonresection after 1 month of the operation.