Prenylating enzymes are involved in modifying oncoproteins, such as RAS, so that growth of neoplastic cells becomes uncontrolled. Inactivation of such enzymes can prevent uncontrolled growth. .alpha.-Dicarbonyl compounds can be used to covalently modify and thereby inactivate prenylating enzymes such as protein farnesyltransferase and protein geranylgeranyltransferase. The compounds can be designed to enhance affinity and/or specificity for a particular protein substrate.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a divisional of application Ser. No. 10/437,050, filed May 14, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,012,097, which is a divisional of application Ser. No. 09/457,476, filed Dec. 9, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,576,436, which claims benefit of provisional Application Ser. No. 60/111,478 filed Dec. 9, 1998. The disclosure of the provisional application is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
