COMPARISON BETWEEN BACILLUS-CALMETTE-GUERIN AND THE A60 MYCOBACTERIALANTIGEN COMPLEX USED AS CANCER-PREVENTIVE IMMUNOTHERAPIES

Preparations of live or lysates of Mycobacterium bovis strain Calmette -Guerin (BCG) have long been used as treatments for a variety of cance r types, especially those involving the urinary tract, with varying su ccess. This study was conducted to compare the antitumoral activity of BCG and the thermostable macromolecular antigen complex of BCG (A6O) when used as preventive treatments, in conjunction with or without tum or antigens, against growth and dissemination of the EMT6 murine tumor cell line. It was demonstrated that tumor antigens alone did not sign ificantly alter the oncological indexes, although a slight increase in both T lymphocyte and macrophage activations was found. It was furthe r demonstrated that A6O induces a protective activity up to 40% greate r than that of live BCG and that this protection was not accompanied b y any of the adverse effects sometimes observed during BCG immunothera py.