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General Aspects

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The Epothilones: An Outstanding Family of Anti-Tumor Agents

Abstract

Epothilone is a microbial product, and thus its history may be traced back to the discovery of the respective microbe, Sorangium cellulosum, a bacterium belonging to the taxonomic group of myxobacteria, which originally has been described by Roland Thaxter in 1892 (1). Today this group of organisms comprises around 40 species, one of which is Sorangium cellulosum. For a long time, myxobacteria were only known for their gliding motility and sophisticated life cycle, although it had been occasionally speculated that they might produce secondary metabolites like actinomycetes or bacilli (2). In 1975 Hans Reichenbach and his group at the German Centre for Biotechnology (GBF; now called the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research) set out to isolate strains of myxobacteria from soil samples collected all over the world, and to examine their secondary metabolism. In 1978, while work was already ongoing, I joined them and took over the chemistry part. In the same year the first structure of a myxobacterial metabolite, ambruticin, was published by a group from Warner-Lambert (3) making us very confident of being on the right track. Ambruticin had been isolated from a Sorangium cellulosum strain, and was identified as a unique cyclopropane polyketide structure exhibiting potentially useful antifungal properties. Ambruticin and its derivatives had been developed for medical application for some time, and recently gained new interest (4).

Non-published papers and documents used for this article are in the possession of the Helmholtz-Center for Infection Research (formerly GBF, Gesellschaft für Biotechnologische Forschung).

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  1. Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (formerly: GBF, Gesellschaft für Biotechnologische Forschung), Inhoffenstr. 7, 38124, Braunschweig, Germany

    Prof. Dr. Gerhard Höfle

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  1. Prof. Dr. Gerhard Höfle
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Höfle, G. (2009). General Aspects. In: The Epothilones: An Outstanding Family of Anti-Tumor Agents. Fortschritte der Chemie organischer Naturstoffe / Progress in the Chemistry of Organic Natural Products, vol 90. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-211-78207-1_1

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