Lactones: generic inhibitors of enzymes?

The ability to affect eukaryotic and prokaryotic cellular growth, signaling and differentiation is a continuing focus in the pharmaceutical industry. The fundamental ability to affect these cellular processes is inherent in lactones. Lactones, which are ubiquitous in nature, reflect a broad phylogenetic diversity indicative of their ability to act as simple alkylating compounds, with their in situ activities falling into one of two categories, i.e., protect or conquer. Medically, their utility as pharmaceutical agents range from that of antimicrobial to anti-neoplastic agent depending on the functional groups attached.