INVITRO EVALUATION OF THE DIFFERENTIAL CYTOTOXICITY OF KETO-C-GLYCOSIDES TOWARD NORMAL AND MALIGNANT-CELLS

In a previous work, we have shown that some members of the family of k eto-C-glycosides (KCGs) possess interesting biological properties as t hey exhibited cytotoxic effects at the nanomolar level on malignant ce lls. In this report, we selected six KCGs in order to investigate thei r selective cytotoxicity on several malignant epithelial and lymphobla stoid cells, as well as on their normal counterparts. For this purpose , we compared the activities of KCGs upon hepatoma cells and hepatocyt es and upon lymphoma cells, normal lymphocytes and bone marrow cells. The tested drugs showed real discriminating cytotoxic effects since th e cytotoxicity was several log greater on malignant than on non malign ant cells. An in vitro comparative study of KCGs and some conventional chemotherapeutic agents showed that two of them were more potent than 5-fluorouracil, cis-platinum and etoposide. It is interesting to note that KCGs showed very low cytotoxic effects on either murine splenocy tes, human peripheral blood lymphocytes or human bone marrow cells, in dicating a weak immunosuppressive activity. The results presented here strongly suggest the selective cytotoxic activity of KCGs toward tumo ral cells.