ANTITUMOR AGENT AND PREPARATION THEREOF

PURPOSE:An antitumor agent consisting of a water-soluble glycoprotein obtained from a broth powder of a shellfish or concentrate thereof. CONSTITUTION:An antitumor agent obtained by subjecting a dried powder or a concentrate of a broth obtained in boiling or steaming and processing an edible part of a shellfish, e.g. a wide range of mollusks such as an ear shell or mud shell including marine and limnetic shellfish, with hot aqueous medium as a raw material to the ion exchange chromatography with a basic anion exchanger or filtration chromatography with a gel filtration gel to collect an antitumor substance consisting of a water-soluble glycoprotein having 10,000-300,000 molecular weight (a slightly brownish white-white solid; readily soluble in water and insoluble in organic solvents, e.g. methanol; an ampholytic electrolyte; positive to the biuret reaction, positive to the anthrone-sulfuric acid reaction and quasi- positive to cysteine-sulfuric acid reaction), and incorporating the resultant antitumor substance therein. The above-mentioned boiling or steaming and heat- treating are carried out preferably in divided two stages. The amount of the hot aqueous medium is small, and the extraction effect of the antitumor substance is good. The concentrating of the aimed broth is easily carried out with a high heating efficiency by using a simple apparatus.