1996 Volume 49 Issue 10 Pages 974-979
The retinoblastoma protein (pRB) is inactivated in a wide variety of human cancers. In the course of our screening for antitumor antibiotics by using pRB-inactivated cells, an actinomycete identified as Streptomyces tanashiensis was found to produce four new active substances, leptofuranins A, B, C and D. The leptofuranins arrested the growth of normal cells and induced apoptotic cell death against tumor cells and cells transformed with the adenovirus E1A gene.