INHIBITORY EFFECTS OF FATTY-ACID MONOESTERS OF 2-O-BETA-D-GLUCOSYLGLYCEROL ON EPSTEIN-BARR-VIRUS ACTIVATION

In a screening for cancer chemopreventing agents several glycosylglyce rols were found to be active. In order to optimize the anti-tumor acti vity of this class of compounds, a series of 1-O-acyl-2-O-beta-D-gluco pyranosyl-sn-glycerols differing in the acyl chain length, which varie d from C-4 to C-18, were examined for their in vitro anti-tumor promot ing effects on Epstein-Barr virus early antigen (EBV-BA) activation in duced by the tumor promoter 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) . Among the compounds tested, the monohexanoyl derivative was the most active and, noteworthy, the most potent compound of the glycosylglyce rol series hitherto known. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.