In vitro phase II study of a new cyclic hexapeptide
anticancer agent,
RA-700 was studied on the human
tumor clonogenic assay. From the results of the study using the human tumor cell line of
lung cancer (PC-6),
RA-700 appears to possess time-dependent antitumor activity. Therefore, against the 148 human specimens of various
malignancies, the chemosensitivity of
RA-700 was tested at the concentrations of 10 micrograms/ml, 1 microgram/ml and 0.1 microgram/ml in continuous exposure schedule for 2 weeks by using the human
tumor clonogenic assay. If the criteria for in vitro sensitivity was based on greater than or equal to 70% inhibition of colony formation, out of 148 specimens 59 specimens (40%) were evaluable and the chemosensitivity rate of
RA-700 were 67% (4/6), 22% (2/9), 17% (3/18) and 10% (1/10) for
ovarian cancer,
non-small cell lung cancer,
breast cancer and
colorectal cancer, respectively. An overall chemosensitivity rate against 13 different histologic types of
cancers was 22% (13/59) (greater than or equal to 70% inhibition of colony formation) and 39% (23/59) (greater than or equal to 50% inhibition of colony formation).
RA-700 showed almost same chemosensitivity compared to that of five standard anticancer drugs (
adriamycin,
mitomycin C,
cisplatin,
vinblastine and 5-FU), but the spectrum of
RA-700 activity appears to be different from that of the standard drugs. Furthermore, the antitumor activity of
RA-700 had no relationship with prior
chemotherapy. These results indicated that
RA-700 is a candidate for phase I study.