Date Published:
1 November 2006 |
Bacteria could make new library of cancer drugs that are too complex to create artificially
Researchers at the University of Warwick are examining a way of using bacteria
to manufacture a new suite of potential anti-cancer drugs that are difficult
to create synthetically on a lab bench.
The bacterium Streptomyces coelicolor naturally produce antibiotics called
prodiginines.
This group of antibiotics has stimulated much recent interest as they can
be used to target and kill cancer cells. A synthetic prodiginine analogue called
GX15-070 is currently in phase 1 and 2 cancer treatment trials. However, analogues
of other prodiginines, such as streptorubin B, could be even more powerful
anti cancer tools, but they cannot currently be easily synthetically produced
on a lab bench.
Professor Greg Challis and colleagues in the Chemistry Department of the University
of Warwick have looked at the enzymes controlling the process that allows the
bacterium Streptomyces coelicolor to create streptorubin B and have gained
a clear understanding of which are the key enzymes that act at particular steps
of that process. By manipulation of the enzyme content of the bacteria, they
aim to produce a range of different compounds based closely on the form of
streptorubin B normally formed by the bacteria. Some of these analogues of
streptorubin B could provide the basis for developing useful new anti cancer
drugs.
Professor Challis said:
" This approach combines the strengths of conventional organic synthesis,
with the synthetic power of biology, to assemble complex and synthetically
difficult structures. It could be particularly valuable for generating analogues
of streptorubin B with all the promise that holds for the development of new
anti cancer drugs"
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