• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.124-128
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• 2008

Cell proliferation inhibitory effects of homoharringtonine (HHT), an active drug substance in Cephalotaxus koreana, against blood cancer cell line K562 were evaluated. In addition, in vivo chronic toxicity test with mouse was carried out. When K562 cell line was treated everyday for 9, 6, 3 days, $IC_{50}$ values of HHT were determined as 0.27, 0.37, and 1.10 mM respectively. The anticancer activity of HHT was comparable to adriamycin, a known anticancer drug compound for blood cancer treatment. in vivo chronic toxicity test of the HHT, the number of red blood cell (RBC) showed no significant difference. From the analysis of the liver-functional enzymes in blood, all of liver damage related enzymes such as glutamate-oxalate-transferase (GOT), glutamate-pyruvate-transferase (GPT), cholesterol (Chol) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) showed no significant change. However, from the histologic test, a neutrophil of the band type in liver tissue was observed.