Antimetastatic effects of arbidol, a new antiviral drug

Abstract

Arbidol, a new antiviral drug, is found to suppress metastases of Lewis' pulmonary carcinoma for various methods of transplantation. The effects of arbidol are compatible with those of the standard interferon inductor poly-I-poly-C. Key Words: interferon inductors; arbidol; metastases; Lewis' pulmonary carcinomaThe use of interferon inductors to treat tumor metastases has been one of the promising trends in the development of new treatment strategies in the last decade. Synthesis of various interferons and some other cytokines induced by them cannot eliminate the primary tumor but does have a marked impact on the level of metastases [6,7]. This lends urgency to the search for new substances characterized by interferon-inducing properties and their trials as antimetastatic agents.During synthetic investigations in the series of 2-alkyl(aryl)-thiomethyl-5-oxyindole derivatives we found that ethyl ether hydrochloride of 5-hydroxy-4-dimethylarninomethyl-1,2-phenylthiomethyl indole-3-carbonic acid, tentatively named fercaptolin, shows antiviral activity [4].Further search for new antiviral drugs revealed that one of the fercaptolm analogs, differing from it in the presence of bromine in position 6 (Fig. 1) The purpose of the present research was to study the antitumor and anti_metastatic effects of the new antiviral drug arbidol, possessing interferon-inducing properties, in models of induced and spontaneous metastasiNng of Lewis' pulmonary carcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODSExperiments were carried out with male C57B1/6 mice aged 2 to 3 months. Lewis' pulmonary carcinema (LPC) was used in the experiments. Intravenous and intramuscular routes of tumor cell

Synthesis and X‐ray analysis of 7‐bromoarbidol, an impurity standard of arbidol

“…Further derivatives of arbidol have been investigated as anti‐hepatitis B drug‐like substances [14]. Earlier studies have shown also certain antimetastatic effects of the latter [15].…”