Scripps: Scientists Determine How Antibiotic Gains Cancer-Killing Sulfur Atoms

In a discovery with implications for future drug design, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have shown an unprecedented mechanism for how a natural antibiotic with antitumor properties incorporates sulfur into its molecular structure, an essential ingredient of its antitumor activity.

This new discovery could open the way to incorporating sulfur into other natural products, potentially advancing new therapies for indications beyond cancer.