Article

The antileukemic activity of the original conjugate of anthracycline antitumor antibiotic epirubicin, covalently bound to the biopolymer dextran was studied. The ascitic lymphoid leukemia L 1210 (transplantation dose 1x105 tumor cells/mouse, i. p.), in hybrid mice BDF1, was used as tumor model. An antileukemic activity of the studied original conjugate was found. The criterion “increase of life span” (ILS%) reached maximally 136,6% for the conjugate. The studied conjugate of biopolymer dextran with epirubicin showed lower toxicity but also lower antileukemic activity in comparison with free epirubicin. The further experiments in this field are in progress, aiming to design better conjugates, with potential clinical use.