[New trends in studies of the pharmacologic activity of microbial metabolites]

A new broad concept and novel approaches in the search for bioactive microbial metabolites are discussed. Methodology of the screening systems and assay techniques for the pharmacological and immunopharmacological activity of these products is presented. The value of the preliminary target-selective screening procedures is illustrated with a number of the pharmacologically active microbial products, among which the enzyme inhibitors are extremely important. Products with immunopharmacological activity are developed for organ transplantation and antitumor therapy. Another question discussed in the paper is non-antimicrobial and non-antitumor applications of the antibiotics.