STUDIES ON THE IN VITRO ANTITUMOR ACTIVITY OF FATTY ACIDS: II. SATURATED DICARBOXYLIC ACIDS

Abstract

Previous studies, which showed that 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid from royal jelly possessed in vitro antitumor activity, have been extended to saturated dicarboxylic fatty acids. Seven of eight compounds tested in a series of chain length from C3 to C10 completely prevented the development of the ascites forms of the 6C3HED lymphosarcoma, the Ehrlich carcinoma, and the TA3 mammary carcinoma, as well as the transplantable leukemia of AKR mice. This in vitro antitumor activity could be demonstrated only at pH values below 5.0 and required admixture of the tumor cells and test compounds prior to inoculation of the mice. In general, the antitumor activity of the saturated dicarboxylic acids was found to increase progressively with increasing length of the fatty acid chain.