Enhanced Cytotoxicity of Some Triterpenes toward Leukemia L1210 Cells Cultured in Low pH media : Possibility of a New Mode of Cell Killing

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Several triterpenes were tested for cytotoxicity by our contrived primary screening method using resting or dormant leukemia L1210 cells after 3 d-preculture without medium change. Some triterpenes were found to be more cytotoxic toward the 3 d-precultured resting cells than toward the growing cells in a fresh medium. These triterpenes are distinguished by highly selective cytotoxicity toward the starved resting cells unlike common anticancer agents. The highest selectivity was shown by betulinic acid, the ratio of its IC₅₀ values toward the growing versus resting cells amounting to 175. It is suggested that this selective cytotoxicity is attributable to low pH (≤6.8) of the medium. It is noteworthy that betulinic acid is not cytotoxic at all in media of ordinary pH (≥7.0) even after a 48-h exposure. Betulinic acid might be promising as an antitumor agent toward solid tumors because the interior pH of tumor tissues is generally lower than in normal tissues.