[Studies on the isolation, structure identification and biological function of two tumor cell suppressors of human...

Our previous work showed the existence of low molecular weight tumor suppressors in human fetal tissues. In this paper, two tumor cell suppressors were isolated and purified from methanol extract of human fetal liver by C18 reversed-phase medium pressure chromatography, gel filtration on Sephadex LH-20, and high-performance liquid chromatography, directed by suppression of growth of HL-60 cells. The structures of the suppressors were identified to be 7-ketocholesterol and 7-beta-hydroxycholesterol. Under the condition of in vitro agar plate culture, 7-ketocholesterol and 7-beta-hydroxycholesterol showed preferentially inhibitory effects on the growth of both human and murine leukemic cell lines including human HL-60 and murine S-180 cells, but less effective on the growth of normal human and murine bone marrow granulocyte-macrophage progenitors (CFU-GM).