A comparison of the pulmonary toxicity and chemotherapeutic activity of bleomycin-BAPP to bleomycin and pepleomycin.

The pulmonary toxicity and antitumor activity of a new bleomycin analog butylamino-3-propylamino-3-propylamine (Blm-BAPP) was investigated and compared with bleomycin and pepleomycin. Blm-BAPP was significantly more pulmonary toxic than bleomycin and had no greater activity against B16 melanoma than either bleomycin or pepleomycin. Although pepleomycin was as equitoxic as bleomycin in producing pulmonary fibrosis, doses of pepleomycin greater than 5 mg/kg were more lethal than bleomycin. Not only did the three drugs function similarly in vivo, but they behaved similarly in two in vitro test systems: microsome-catalyzed drug-mediated DNA deoxyribose cleavage and binding to DNA.