Actinomycetes: A Source of Anticancer Metabolites

Microbes in general, actinomycetes in particular, produce a wide range of antibiotics with various biological activities such as anticancer, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antituberculosis and enzyme inhibition. Actinomycetes are filamentous gram-positive bacteria found in both terrestrial and marine environments. Currently, antibiotics such as Rifamycin, Tetracycline, Kanamycin, Neomycin, Streptomycin and Clavulanic acid derived from actinobacteria are highly useful in the medical field. Out of these biological activities, we need to explore the anticancer activity of various compounds isolated from different actinomycetes since cancer is a deadly disease and it is very common now a day. There are no proper medications for cancer treatment to date. The identification of a drug candidate for cancer treatment will be a striking and lifesaving achievement. Many more research activities must be done in this field. Many molecules have been used as chemotherapeutic agents reported from actinobacteria used for cancer treatment. In this review, various anticancer compounds isolated from the crude extracts of different marine and soil actinomycetes have been reported from 2000-2022. The aim of this review is to summarize and consolidate the anticancer and cytotoxic compounds isolated from the actinomycetes (from different locations) to encourage the scientific community to concentrate more on this field, which will serve good for mankind.