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Anti‐tumor protection induced in mice by fatty acid conjugates: Alkyl butyrates and poly(ethylene glycol) dibutyrates
Author(s) -
Wakselman Michel,
Cerutti Italina,
Chany Charles
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.2910460323
Subject(s) - butyrate , ethylene glycol , conjugate , chemistry , butyric acid , ethylene , hydrolysis , biochemistry , fatty acid , organic chemistry , catalysis , mathematics , mathematical analysis , fermentation
Simple fatty acids, especially butyrate salts, have interesting biological properties, since they are able to down‐regulate cell growth and promote various differentiated cellular functions. Their use for anti‐tumor treatment is, however, hampered by their over‐rapid diffusion in the blood, followed by a short‐lived biological action. We have therefore devised conjugates linking butyrate with either (i) aliphatic alcohols of increasing carbon numbers ranging from C 4 to C 12 or (ii) poly(ethylene glycols) of increasing molecular weights. In both cases, the resulting butyric esters can be hydrolysed by esterases which can release biologically active subunits from the synthetic compounds. As shown in the present study, only one conjugate in each series gave satisfactory anti‐tumor protection: namely, I‐octyl butyrate and poly(ethylene glycol 1000) dibutyrate respectively. A single immune‐stimulatory injection of purified Corynebacterium parvum extract prior to administration of the conjugates significantly increased the anti‐tumor potency.