Summary
The influence of effective antitumor chemotherapeutic agents upon the rate of incorporation of P32 into the DNA of Adenocarcinoma 755 in mice was studied.
No influence upon this index of nucleic acid synthesis was observed in the case of the alklylating agents, Myleran, nitrogen mustard, triethylene melamine, or triethylene phosphoramides, despite dose levels adequate to inhibit tumor growth. The purine analogs, 8-azaguanine and 6-mercaptopurine, caused depression of nucleic acid synthesis. This contrast suggests the existence of fundamentally different mechanisms of action for the two classes of compounds with primary inhibition of nucleic acid synthesis applying only in the case of the purine antimetabolites.
This investigation was supported in part by the Damon Runyon Fund and a research grant (C-2046) from the National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health, Public Health Service, Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
Presented in part before the 44th annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, April, 1953, Chicago, Illinois, and published is abstract form in the Scientific Proceedings of that meeting.