An extracellular polysaccharide, designated as schizophyllan, from
Schizophyllum commune exhibits the host-mediated antitumor effect on subcutaneously transplanted tumors, such as Sarcoma 37, Sarcoma 180 and Ehrlich carcinoma. In order to know the influence of schizophyllan therapy on the inhibition of cell migration in tumor-bearing mice, the migration inhibition test, which is considered to be closely related to the establishment of cellular immunity, has been carried out, using peritoneal cells of mice transplanted subcutaneously with Sarcoma 37 cells.
Nearly no inhibition of cell migration was observed in the presence of antigen (sonicates of Sarcoma 37 cells) in the following groups of mice:(1) normal,(2) normal, treated with schizophyllan only, and (3) immunized with killed tumor cells.
On the contrary,the macrophage migration was inhibited in the presence of antigen in the following groups of mice:(1) tumor-bearing,(2) regressed after treatment with schizophyllan, and (3) non-regr-essed by the treatment. The degree of inhibition proved to be most remarkable in the peritoneal cells from the regressed mice by the treatment with schizophyllan.
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