Toxicology and Antitumor Activity of Tuftsin^a

The immunomodulatory effects of tuftsin on the non-specific immune system of Indian Major carp, Labeo rohita

“…Initial studies with human cancer patients demonstrated that tuftsin is non-toxic and its administration leads to a marked elevation of white blood count (WBC), i.e. leukocytosis [11].…”

Isolation and subunit composition of tuftsin receptor.

“…Of 17 patients with advanced malignancies who were getting 5 mg each i.v. twice a week, two showed remarkable responses, both clinically and radiologically: one with a nasopharyngeal tumor (14,19) and the other with an alveolar cell carcinoma of the lung. The responses lasted 4 weeks and 10 weeks, respectively.…”

“…Tuftsin's chief role is to stimulate several functions of phagocytic cells, primarily in the macrophage. These functions form an important component of the immune system and comprise phagocytosis, pinocytosis, mobility (4,5), chemotaxis (5)(6)(7)(8), and immunogenic activity (9), resulting in the augmentation of the number of antibody-forming cells (10,11), bactericidal activity (12), and tumoricidal activity (13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18). The latter has been shown in mice for L1210 cells (15)(16)(17)(18) and BCL1 leukemia cells (19), several melanoma cell lines (16)(17)(18), chemically induced sarcoma (14,19), and several virally induced tumors (20)(21)(22).…”

Suppression of Friend Virus-induced Leukaemia in Mice by Tuftsin

“…Its anticancer activity has been shown both in vitro and in vivo (Catane et al, 1983 ;Nishioka et al, 1983) and the latest clinical trials have suggested its possible use in human therapy (Catane et al, 1983(Catane et al, , 1986.…”

“…Tuftsin stimulates all known functions of phagocytic cells (Najjar & Bump, 1984), significantly increasing the cytotoxicity of macrophages towards target cells (Nishioka et al, 1983;Catane et al, 1983). Because of the importance of macrophages in resistance to tumours (Schultz et al, 1977), compounds such as tuftsin may be especially useful in cancer immunotherapy alone or as an adjunct to chemotherapy.…”