Neocarzinostatin is an effective DNA-damaging, anti-tumor antibiotic. It recognizes double-stranded DNA bulge and induces DNA double strand breaks (DSBs). Neocarzinostatin leads to apoptosis. Neocarzinostatin has potential for EpCAM-positive cancer treatment.

The IC50 values of Neocarzinostatin (72 hours) to C6 cells and U87MG cells were 493.64 nM, 462.96 nM, respectively[4]. Sensitivity to neocarzinostatin is proportional to the product of the relative contents of Bcl-2 and caspase-3, in human tumor cell lines of different tissue origins[5]. The EpCAM aptamer conjugated Neocarzinostatin (NCS) displays specificity to EpCAM-positive cells. The high levels of PARP expression confirmed the DNA breaks upon conjugate treatment. NCS conjugated with EpCAM can be targeted to cancer cells sparing normal cells[3].