Identification of the molecular targets of proximicins, potent anti-tumour natural products

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide with 340,000 new cases in UK alone (2012). The increasing number of therapeutic targets in cancer demands access to novel and diverse chemical scaffolds, which can result in new anti-cancer drugs. To this end, natural products, particularly derived from marine microorganisms, remain a remarkable source of therapeutic leads. In this project we wish to identify the molecular targets of proximicins, potent anti-tumour antibiotic isolated from marine Actinomycetes. Proximicins-tagged molecular probes will be synthesised and an assay will be employed to detect the interactions of these probes with a number (>9000) of potential cancer protein targets.