ISOLATION AND STRUCTURE OF CHAETOMELLIC ACIDS A AND B FROM CHAETOMELLA-ACUTISETA - FARNESYL PYROPHOSPHATE MIMIC INHIBITORS OF RAS FARNESYL-PROTEIN TRANSFERASE

Farnesyl-Protein transferase catalyses a post-translational modification of Ras that is obligatory for the cell transforming activity of this oncogene protein. The screening of natural products to identify inhibitors of this enzyme as a potential anticancer agents, has led to the isolation of two novel dicarboxylic acids, named chaetomellic acids from Chaetomella acutiseta , as potent and selective inhibitors which appear to be the first examples of non-phosphorous containing FPP mimics.