Structure-activity relationship of novel oligopeptide antiviral and antitumor agents related to netropsin and distamycin

A group of oligopeptides have been synthesized that are structurally related to the natural antiviral antitumor agents netropsin and distamycin. Cytostatic activity against both human and murine tumor cell lines as well as their in vitro activity against a range of viruses is reported. The biological activity of these agents is discussed both in terms of their structural differences and, in particular, in relation to their observed base- and sequence-dependent minor-groove binding to duplex oligonucleotides.