Bleomycin-induced life prolongation of mice infected with Trypanosoma brucei brucei EATRO 110

The antitumour antibiotic bleomycin, supplied as commercial Blenoxane R (a mixture of bleomycinic acids), at 7 or 14 mg/kg prolonged life > 30 days beyond death of controls without relapse or sign of trypanosomes in the peripheral blood of mice infected with Trypanosoma b. brucei EATRO 110. Control mice died in three to four days. The purified A 2 and B 2 bleomycin congeners were also active at this dose. Spermidine, spermine and hirudonine (1,8-diamidinospermidine) but not putrescine, co-administered with drug, annulled the curative effects of these compounds, as signalled by appearance of trypanosomes in the blood and death of the animals.