Sj. Park et al., An investigation of the cytotoxicity of the morpholino anthracycline MX2 against glioma cells in vitro, J CL NEUROS, 7(1), 2000, pp. 42-47
MX2 is a novel morpholino anthracycline reported to have lower systemic tox
icity than other anthracyclines. It has similar antitumour activity to adri
amycin and is cytotoxic towards multi-drug resistant cells and anthracyclin
e sensitive sublines of human and murine tumour cells. In this study MX2 sh
owed a marked cytocidal effect compared to M2, the most cytotoxically activ
e metabolite, and the nitrosourea, BCNU, when 30 ng/ml of each drug was add
ed to separate flasks of C6 glioma cells grown in monolayer. The colony for
mation of C6 glioma cells was markedly inhibited by MX2 in a dose dependent
manner. The LD50 values for MX2, M2 and BCNU were 10.5 ng/ml, 15.8 ng/ml a
nd 465 ng/ml respectively. MX2 is likely to be bound to the main plasma pro
tein, albumin, and can also interact with the plasma lipoproteins, particul
arly high density lipoprotein. The results in this study strongly support t
he further investigation of MX2 as a potential chemotherapeutic agent again
st brain tumours. (C) 2000 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.