Fredericamycin A, a new antitumor antibiotic. II. Biological properties.

Fredericamycin A is a novel antibiotic produced by a soil isolate of Streptomyces griseus (FCRC-48). In vitro, fredericamycin A exhibits antibacterial, antifungal, and cytotoxic activities. In vivo, fredericamycin A exhibits very good antitumor activity against P388 mouse leukemia as well as the CD8F mammary tumor and marginal activity against B16 melanoma. Fredericamycin A failed to demonstrate any interaction with DNA and inhibited protein and RNA synthesis preferentially to DNA synthesis in Bacillus subtilis and P388 cells.