Comparison of the effect of five antitumor drugs on the hemopoietic and P388 leukemic stem cells in mice

The effects of 5 antitumor drugs on normal bone marrow colony-forming units in culture (NCFU-C) and P388 leukemic colony forming units in culture (LCFU-C) of mice were compared by agar diffusion chamber(ADC) technique. The dose-survival curves for both of the stem cells exposed to harringtonine(H), homoharringtonine(HH), partial synthetic harringtonine(PSH), and cyclophosphamide(CY) exhibited exponential forms. The values of the efficacy ratio:H 1.8, HH 3.5, PSH 4.7, and CY 5.7. In contrast, there was no clear dose-response relationship between the effects of arabinosylcytosine(Ara-C) on NCFU-C and LCFU-C at dosage of 125-1000 mg/kg; dose-survival curves for both of the stem cells were decreased to about 38% at 1g/kg.