Effect of Intravenous Immunostimulant (OK-432)

To clarify the effectiveness of OK-432, immunopotentiator was intravenously used. The tumor-bearing host was apparently stimulated via NK activity and increased the number of T cells and B cells. It helps immunodepressed host to level up quickly. However, further effective immunostimulation beyond the normal range could not be expected. A new combined method should be found to be immunopotentiated even for the uncompromized host. Recently, a new immunostimulant derived from streptococcus, OK-432, was widely used for the treatment of cancer in Japan. The cytostatic and cytotoxic actions of OK-432 for cancer cells have been made clear by in vitro and vivo study. It, however, is not clear as to how the developing immunostimulated states differ on the condition of admistering route, dosis or time-intlrval. In this series, the effects of intravenous administration of OK-432 as the host immunostimulator were compared with those of conventional subcutaneous administration.