Rubidomycin

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An anticancer antibiotic of the anthracycline class, originally isolated from Streptomyces bacteria and used to treat leukemia
2. A cytotoxic antitumor drug from the anthracycline family, produced by soil bacteria and used in chemotherapy for blood cancers
3. A red antibiotic compound with antineoplastic activity, also known as daunorubicin, that interferes with DNA replication in cancer cells

Etymology: Rubidomycin was not named for a person or an event but for a colour. Its name combines the Latin "rubidus," meaning red or reddish, with "-mycin," the standard suffix for antibiotics, and the red comes from the deep hue of the crystalline powder the drug forms. A team of scientists at the French pharmaceutical company Rhône-Poulenc coined the name while working with the Italian firm Farmitalia on the joint discovery of daunorubicin, a closely related compound. The "-o-" in the middle is a connecting vowel, the kind that joins the two parts of a scientific compound without carrying any meaning of its own. The result is a plainly descriptive coinage: a red antibiotic, named for what it looks like in the flask.

Synonyms: daunorubicin