Bleomycin sulfate is a glycopeptide antibiotic produced by Streptomyces verticillus. It inhibits DNA synthesis and causes single and double-strand breaks at specific base sequences in intracellular DNA of bacterial and mammalian cells. It also acts as an inducer and regulator of apoptosis and inhibits tumor angiogenesis. It is an anticancer agent for squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) with IC50 = 4 nM in UT-SCC-19A cells.
In vivo, Bleomycin sulfate induces pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis in lung injury models (mice).
Bleomycin sulfate contains two main components:
1) Bleomycin A2 hemisulfate, C55H84N17O21S3.HSO4, molecular weight = 1512.62 Da
2) Bleomycin B2, C55H84N20O21S2, molecular weight = 1425.52 Da.
The exact proportions vary from batch to batch and can be found on the relevant certificate of analysis.
