The Duocarmycins and CC-1065 are members of a class of DNA minor groove, AT-sequence selective, and adenine-N3 alkylating agents, isolated from Streptomyces sp. that exhibit extremely potent cytotoxicity against the growth of cancer cells grown in culture.
Duocarmycin shows cytotoxicity to several human cancer cells, with IC50 of 22, 13.8, 3.87, 15.4, and 7.31 pM for HT-29, CL1-5, Caski, EJ, and LS174T, respectively.