Abstract
IN 1953 Kidd1 discovered that the growth of certain murine lymphomas is inhibited by the administration of guinea-pig serum. Broome2 found the suppressive factor to be L-asparaginase, an enzyme widely distributed in nature but present in serum only in guinea-pigs and in rodents of the superfamily Cavioidea3. Tumours affected by L-asparaginase are unable to synthesize L-asparagine, an amino-acid considered non-essential for normal tissues4–6. The neoplasms, it is thought, are killed when their stores of L-asparagine are depleted by the action of L-asparaginase. The discovery of L-asparaginase-resistant variants of sensitive tumours that have sufficient L-asparagine synthetase to free them of dependence on exogenous L-asparagine supports this idea7. Because normal cells have been considered independent of exogenous L-asparagine, and thus resistant to the enzyme, a tumour-specific killing effect is possible with L-asparaginase. Indeed, dramatic results have been observed follow ing treatment with L-asparaginase of mice with established leukaemia8 and dogs with advanced lymphosarcoma9. Clinical trials with the enzyme are now proceeding10,11. The work to be described here shows that, in addition to its anti-tumour effects, L-asparaginase is immunosuppressive in the mouse.
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SCHWARTZ, R. Immunosuppression by L-Asparaginase. Nature 224, 275–276 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1038/224275a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/224275a0
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