Effect of oxalysine on pulmonary metastases of Lewis lung carcinoma in mice

Oxalysine was found to be an antitumor antibiotic with a simple chemical structure very similar to lysine. In this paper, the antimetastatic action of oxalysine was studied and compared with ICRF-159. The Lewis lung carcinoma-bearing mice were killed at intervals during 10-21 d after sc implantation of tumor. The lungs from these mice were transplanted to other mice to examine the presence of tumor cells by bioassay. On d 21 after implantation of lung the tumor growth was found in 78% of the recipient mice. Oxylysine(160 mg/kg/d) was injected ip for 10 d to the Lewis lung carcinoma-bearing mice. The antimetastatic action could be detected when the treatment was started on the next day after implantation of tumor cells(P<0.05).When the drug was started on d 8 after implantation, antimetastatic action was more marked with 17% incidence of lung metastases(P<0.01). Hence oxalysine possesses a definite antimetastatic effect on Lewis lung carcinoma.