Cancer chemotherapy antitumor antibiotics

H. Umezawa hoped to obtain immunostimulants from microbes, because, in cancer patients, the immune response is lowered. In 1972, H. Umezawa, T. Takeuchi, and M. Ishizuka (now Vice-Director of the Institute for Chemotherapy, a branch of IMC) found that the administration in mice of a small dose of diketocoriolin B, an oxidation derivative of the antitumor antibiotic coriolin B (1971), increases the number of mouse-spleen cells... 

DuVemay VH. Molecular pharmacology of anthiacycline antitumor antibiotics. Crooke ST, Prestayko AW, eds. Cancer and Chemotherapy, Voi 111. Antineoplastic Agents. New York Academic Press, 1981 233-271. 

Maeda H, Takeshita J, Kanamaru R (1979) A lipophilic dtaivative of neocarzinostatin a polymer conjugation of an antitumor protein antibiotic. Int J Pept Protein Res 14 81-87 Maeda H (1991) SMANCS and polymer-conjugated macromol ocular drugs advantages in cancer chemotherapy. Adv Drug Deliv Rev 46 169-185... 

Most of the important antitumor compounds used for chemotherapy of tumors are microbially-produced antibiotics. These include actinomycin D, mitomycin, bleomycins and the anthracyclines, daunorubicin and doxorubicin. The recent successful molecule, taxol (=paclitaxel), was discovered in plants but also is a fungal metabolite. It is approved for breast and ovarian cancer and is the only antitumor drug known to act by blocking depolymerization of microtubules. In addition, taxol promotes tubulin polymerization and inhibits rapidly dividing mammalian cancer cells. It also inhibits fungi such as Pythium, Phytopthora and Aphanomyces spp. by the same mechanism. ... 

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