Summary
A multi-institutional randomized study for the evaluation of ubenimex (Bestatin) in the treatment of adult acute nonlymphocytic leukemia was performed. One hundred and ninety-five patients were registered from February 1988 to December 1990. Patients who had reached complete remission by one or two courses of remission induction chemotherapy were divided into the ubenimex group or the control group by randomization. Patients of the ubenimex group started to receive 30 mg ubenimex orally once a day when maintenance therapy began and continued as long as possible. Remission duration and survival were analyzed based on the data as of August 31, 1991. Remission duration of the ubenimex group was superior to that of the control group (generalized Wilcoxon test:-p=0.0338). Fifty percent remission duration was 508 days in the ubenimex group and 386 days in the control group. There has been no statistical difference in survival between the two groups as yet.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aoshima M, Tsukagoshi S, Sakurai Y, Oh-ishi Y, Ishida T, Kobayashi H (1976) Antitumor activities of newly synthesized N4-acyl-1-β-D-arabinofuranosylcytosione. Cancer Res 36:2726–2732
Bennett JM, Catovsky D, Daniel M-T, Flandrin G, Galton DAG, Gralnick HR, Sultan C (1976) Proposals for the classification of acute leukaemias. Br J Haematol 33:451–458
Foon KA, Smalley RV, Riggs CW, Gale RP (1983) The role of immunotherapy in acute myelogenous leukemia. Arch Intern Med 143:1726–1731
Ito K, Handa J, Irie Y, Hagiwara T, Sakai Y, Hayashi M, Sakakibara T, Suzuki M, Irie Y, Horiguchi M, Kurata M, Machida T, Tsubosaki M, Matsuda A, Konoha N (1983) Toxicological studies on Bestatin. III. Chronic toxicity test and recovery study in beagle dogs. Jpn J Antobiot 36:3053–3193
Kaplan EL, Meier P (1958) Nonparametric estimation from incomplete observations. J Am Stat Assoc 53:457–481
Mathé G (1991) Bestatin, an aminopeptidase inhibitor with a multi-pharmacological function. Biomed Pharmacother 45:49–54
Miyazaki H (1981) Pharmacokinetics and metabolism of Bestatin in humans and rats by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. In: Umezawa H (ed) Small molecular immunomodifiers of microbial origin. Japan Scientific Societies Press, Tokyo, pp 217–229
Ota K, Kurita S, Yamada K, Masaoka T, Uzuka Y, Ogawa N (1986) Immunotherapy with Bestatin for acute nonlymphocytic leukemia in adults. Cancer Immunol Immunother 23:5–10
Ota K (1991) Review of ubenimex (Bestatin): clinical research. Biomed Pharmacother 45:55–60
Powles RL, Russell J, Lister TA, Oliver T, Whitehouse JMA, Malpas J, Chapuis B, Crowther D, Alexander P (1977) Immunotherapy for acute myelogenous leukemia: a controlled clinical study 21/2 years after entry of the last patient. Br J Cancer 35:265–272
Shibuya K, Chiba S, Hino M, Kitamura T, Miyagawa K, Takaku F, Miyazono K (1991) Enhancing effect of ubenimex (Bestatin) on proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic progenitor cells, and the suppressive effect on proliferation of leukemic cell lines via peptidase regulation. Biomed Pharmacother 45:71–80
Ueda T, Nakamura T, Ando S, Kagawa D, Sasada M, Uchino H, Johno I, Akiyama Y (1983) Pharmacokinetics of N4-behenoyl-1-β-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine in patients with acute leukemia. Cancer Res 43:3412–3416
Umezawa H, Aoyagi T, Suda H, Hamada M, Takeuchi T (1976) Bestatin, an inhibitor of aminopeptidase B, produced by actinomycetes. J Antibiot (Tokyo) 29:97–99
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Urabe, A., Mutoh, Y., Mizoguchi, H. et al. Ubenimex in the treatment of acute nonlymphocytic leukemia in adults. Ann Hematol 67, 63–66 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01788128
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01788128