CC-1065 (NSC-298223), a new antitumor antibiotic. Production, in vitro biological activity, microbiological assays and taxonomy of the producing microorganism.

A new antitumor antibiotic is produced in fermentation liquors of Streptomyces zelensis sp.n. The antibiotic is biologically active at extremely low concentrations. At 40 pg/ml, it inhibited 90% of the growth of L1210 cells in culture in tube dilution assays. The minimal inhibitory concentrations against Gram-positive bacteria is between 1 approximately 10 ng/ml, while these values for Gram-negative bacteria and fungi are mostly under 1 microgram/ml. A microbiological assay with Bacillus subtilis can detect concentrations of 1 approximately 2 ng/ml.