Effect of anticancer agents neothramycin, aclacinomycin, FK-565 and FK-156 on the release of interleukin-2 and interleukin-1 in vitro.

Four anticancer agents, neothramycin, aclacinomycin, FK-565 and FK-156, were tested for their effects on concanavalin-A-induced interleukin-2 release from rat splenocytes in vitro. Neothramycin showed an enhancement of the release of interleukin-2, whereas aclacinomycin had no effect. FK-565 and FK-156 were found to inhibit the release of interleukin-2 under similar conditions. The inhibition was much more marked with FK-565. These drugs were also tested for their effects on the release of interleukin-1 from rat peritoneal exudate cells stimulated by lipopolysaccharide in vitro. Neothramycin and aclacinomycin did not affect the release of interleukin-1; however, both FK-565 and FK-156 resulted in its enhanced release under these conditions.