AIM: To study the in vitro and in vivo antitumor effect of lidamycin (LDM) on hepatoma and the active moiety of its molecule. METHODS: MTT assay was used to determine the growth inhibition of human hepatoma BEL-7402 cells, SMMC-7721 cells and mouse hepatoma H22 cells. The in vivo therapeutic effects of lidamycin and mitomycin C were determined by transplantable hepatoma 22 (H22) in mice and human hepatoma BEL-7402 xenografts in athymic mice. RESULTS: In terms of IC50 values, the cytotoxicity of LDM was 10 000-fold more potent than that of mitomycin C (MMC) and adriamycin (ADM) in human hepatoma BEL-7402 cells and SMMC-7721 cells. LDM molecule consists of two moieties, an aproprotein (LDP) and an enediyne chromophore (LDC). In terms of IC50 values, the potency of LDC was similar to LDM. However, LDP was 105-fold less potent than LDM and LDC to hepatoma cells. For mouse hepatoma H22 cells, the IC50 value of LDM was 0.025 nmol/L. Given by single intravenous injection at doses of 0.1, 0.05 and 0.025 mg/kg, LDM markedly suppressed the growth of hepatoma 22 in mice by 84.7%, 71.6% and 61.8%, respectively. The therapeutic indexes (TI) of LDM and MMC were 15 and 2.5, respectively. By 2 iv. injections in two experiments, the growth inhibition rates by LDM at doses of 0.1, 0.05, 0.025, 0.00625 and 0.0125 mg/kg were 88.8-89.5%, 81.1-82.5%, 71.2-74.9%, 52.3-59.575%, and 33.3-48.3%, respectively. In comparison, MMC at doses of 5, 2.5, and 1.25 mg/kg inhibited tumor growth by 69.7-73.6%, 54.0-56.5%, and 31.5-52.2%, respectively. Moreover, in human hepatoma BEL-7402 xenografts, the growth inhibition rates by LDM at doses of 0.05 mg/kg ×2 and 0.025 mg/kg ×2 were 68.7% and 27.2%, respectively. However, MMC at the dose of 1.25 mg/kg ×2 showed an inhibition rate of 34.5%. The inhibition rate of tumor growth by LDM was higher than that by MMC at the tolerated dose. CONCLUSION: Both LDM and its chromophore LDC display extremely potent cytotoxicity to hepatoma cells. LDM shows a remarkable therapeutic efficacy against murine and human hepatomas in vivo. AIM: To study the in vitro and in vivo antitumor effect of lidamycin (LDM) on hepatoma and the active moiety of its molecule. METHODS: MTT assay was used to determine the growth inhibition of human hepatoma BEL-7402 cells, SMMC-7721 cells and mouse hepatoma H22 cells. The in vivo therapeutic effects of lidamycin and mitomycin C were determined by transplantable hepatoma 22 (H22) in mice and human hepatoma BEL-7402 xenografts in athymic mice. RESULTS: In terms of IC50 values, the cytotoxicity of LDM was 10 000-fold more than that of mitomycin C (MMC) and adriamycin (ADM) in human hepatoma BEL-7402 cells and SMMC-7721 cells. LDM molecule consists of two moieties, an aproprotein (LDP) and an enediyne chromophore LDC was LD50 was similar to that of LDM. However, LDP was 105-fold less potent than LDM and LDC to hepatoma cells. For mouse hepatoma H22 cells, the IC50 value of LDM was 0.025 nmol / L. Given by single intravenous injection at doses of 0.1, 0.05 LDM markedly suppressed the growth of hepatoma 22 in mice by 84.7%, 71.6% and 61.8%, respectively. The therapeutic indexes (TI) of LDM and MMC were 15 and 2.5, respectively. By 2 iv. injections in two experiments, the growth inhibition rates by LDM at doses of 0.1, 0.05, 0.025, 0.00625 and 0.0125 mg / kg were 88.8-89.5%, 81.1-82.5%, 71.2-74.9%, 52.3-59.575%, and 33.3-48.3 In addition, MMC at doses of 5, 2.5, and 1.25 mg / kg exhibited a tumor growth by 69.7-73.6%, 54.0-56.5%, and 31.5-52.2%, respectively. Moreover, in human hepatoma BEL-7402 xenografts, the growth inhibition rates by LDM at doses of 0.05 mg / kg × 2 and 0.025 mg / kg × 2 were 68.7% and 27.2%, respectively. However, MMC at the dose of 1.25 mg / kg × 2 showed an inhibition rate of 34.5%. The inhibition rate of tumor growth by LDM was higher than that by MMC at the tolerated dose. CONCLUSION: Both LDM and its chromophore LDC display extremely potent cytotoxicity to hepatoma cells. LDM shows a remar kable therapeutic efficacy against murine and human hepatomas in vivo.