Anthramycin

Abstract

Anthramycin was derived from a thermophilic actinomycete that was isolated from subtropical soils in the 1950’s by M.D. Tendler. Tendler searched for the production of antitumor agents by these highly aerobic organisms on the hypothesis that such organisms might produce inhibitors of anaerobic metabolism (Chem. Eng. News, Oct. 31,p. 42 1966). The most active of the several antitumor principles found in fermentation broths of these organisms was called “refuin” (from the Hebrew “refuah,” meaning a medicine). Refuin, obtained from a fermentation beer by precipitation with ammonium sulfate and by fractional crystallization, was active against sarcoma 180, adenocarcinoma 755, and Ehrlich ascites tumor upon intraperitoneal or subcutaneous injection in mice. The material also inhibited some, but not all, Gram-positive bacteria (Tendler and Korman, 1963). Leimgruber et al (1965 a) isolated a pure crystalline antibiotic from a fermentation broth of Streptomyces refuineus var. thermotolerans (NRRL 3143) and assigned the name Anthramycin. The isolation was accomplished on the basis of assay for its anti-bacterial activity.