PROLIFERATION INHIBITOR AGAINST HUMAN MALIGNANT TUMOR CELLS

PURPOSE:To obtain the title inhibitor which is composed of a specific phenolic components, as a fraction of active ingredients which are collected by extracting the filtrate after cell separation from the culture mixture of an animal malignant tumor cells. CONSTITUTION:The Eagle's MEM culture medium containing 10% bovine fetal serum is used as a growth medium and extraction medium to preculture the Hel cells originating from human uterus cancer in the growth medium, then transferred into the serum free medium to continue the cultivation. The resultant culture mixture is freeze-dried to collect hygroscopic crude powder, then the powder is suspended in methanol to separate the components soluble in methanol and the solvent is distilled off under reduced pressure. The residue is dissolved in purified water, adjusted in pH to 8.0 with dilute aqueous ammonia, extracted with butanol, and the crude active substance is subjected to silica-gel chromatography to obtain a mixture mainly containing 2-hydroxy-1-(p- hydroxyphenyl)-5-methylhexan-3-one as an active fraction having less polarity than that of cholesterol, becoming brown with ferric chloride with ultraviolet absorption.