No abstract

Twenty‐four patients with various solid tumors including metastatic liver cancer and cancer of the lung, gallbladder, and pancreas were treated with a lipophilic macromolecular drug, copoly(styrene‐maleic acid) conjugated neocarzinostatin (SMANCS). The drug was dissolved in a lipid contrast medium Lipiodol and administered by catheterizing the respective feeding arteries under x‐ray monitoring. The advantages of this therapy include: (1) selective deposition of Lipiodol with the anti‐cancer drug in the target tumor, (2) a pronounced and long‐lasting anti‐cancer effect, (3) enhanced visulization of the tumor on x‐ray examinations for a prolonged period which also facilitated the long‐term follow‐up, (4) semiquantitative evaluation of the dosage regimen by x‐ray examination before further administration, (5) general applicability due to procedural simplicity, and (6) little side effect. Since the amount of Lipiodol and SMANCS used per administration for a patient (1.0–5.0 ml; 1.0–5.0 mg) was far less that the anticipated toxicity (LD50 of Lipiodol = 95 ml/60 kg, dog, intravenously; and that of SMANCS = 3.4 mg/kg, mouse, IV), no deleterious effects to such critical organs as the brain, heart, lung, liver, or kidneys were observed upon radiologic and general clinical examination.

No abstract

A yam (Dioscorea opposita Thunb) class IV chitinase, whose genomic DNA was cloned by Mitsunaga et al. (2004), was produced by the recombinant Pichia pastoris X-33 in high yields such as 66 mg/L of culture medium. The chitinase was purified by column chromatography after Endoglycosidase H treatment and then characterized. It showed properties similar to the original chitinase E purified from the yam tuber reported by Arakane et al. (2000). This Pichia-produced chitinase also showed strong lytic activity against Fusarium oxysporum and Phytophthora nicotianae, wide pH and thermal stability, optimum activity at higher temperature such as 70 °C, and high substrate affinity, indicating that one can use this Pichia-produced yam chitinase as a bio-control agent.