Inhibitors of farnesyl-protein transferase

A prodrug of the formula IV:

• ##STR13## R.sup.1 is hydrogen, an alkyl group, an aralkyl group, an acyl group, an aracyl group, an aroyl group, an alkylsulfonyl group, aralkylsulfonyl group or arylsulfonyl group, wherein alkyl and acyl groups comprise straight chain or branched chain hydrocarbons of 1 to 6 carbon atoms;
• R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 are the side chains of naturally occurring amino acids, and their oxidized forms which may be methionine sulfoxide or methionine sulfone, or in the alternative may be substituted or unsubstituted aliphatic, aromatic or heteroaromatic groups, comprising allyl, cyclohexyl, phenyl, pyridyl, imidazolyl or saturated chains of 2 to 8 carbon atoms which may be branched or unbranched, wherein the aliphatic substitutents may be substituted with an aromatic or heteroaromatic ring;
• R.sup.5 is an alkyl group, wherein the alkyl group comprises straight chain or branched chain hydrocarbons of 1 to 6 carbon atoms, which may be substituted with an aromatic or heteroaromatic group;
• n is 0, 1 or 2;
• and the pharmaceutically acceptable salts and disulfides thereof.