Abstract
In addition to cancer and diabetes, inflammatory and ROS-related diseases represent one of the major health problems worldwide. Currently, several synthetic drugs are used to reduce oxidative stress; nevertheless, these approaches often have side effects. Therefore, to overcome these issues, the search for alternative therapies has gained importance in recent times. Natural bioactive compounds have represented, and they still do, an important source of drugs with high therapeutic efficacy. In the “synthetic” era, terrestrial and aquatic photosynthetic organisms have been shown to be an essential source of natural compounds, some of which might play a leading role in pharmaceutical drug development. Marine organisms constitute nearly half of the worldwide biodiversity. In the marine environment, algae, seaweeds, and seagrasses are the first reported sources of marine natural products for discovering novel pharmacophores. The algal bioactive compounds are a potential source of novel antioxidant and anticancer (through modulation of the cell cycle, metastasis, and apoptosis) compounds. Secondary metabolites in marine Algae, such as phenolic acids, flavonoids, and tannins, could have great therapeutic implications against several diseases. In this context, this review focuses on the diversity of functional compounds extracted from algae and their potential beneficial effects in fighting cancer, diabetes, and inflammatory diseases.
Highlights
Epidemiological studies have evidenced the dangerous effects on human health of the ever-increasing intake of junk food, alcohol, and antibiotics
Products from natural products have provided a large number of pharmaceuticals, or their prototypes, in recent times
Among the many natural sources, marine algae can still play a pivotal role in human health and disease because of the need for novel drug candidates
Summary
Epidemiological studies have evidenced the dangerous effects on human health of the ever-increasing intake of junk food, alcohol, and antibiotics. Current chemotherapeutic, anti-diabetic, and anti-inflammatory drugs often present several adverse effects, such as toxicity, drug tolerance, and metabolic impairments [1] In this regard, natural products might provide alternative drugs with better characteristics [7]. Few marine algae-derived bioactive compounds, such as phlorotannins, polysaccharides, fucoidans, alginic acid, tripeptides, pyropheophytin, and oxylipin, have been shown to reduce the risk of cancer, diabetes, and inflammatory diseases [15]. Phytochemicals from marine algae, such as peptides, amino acids, lipids, fatty acids, sterols, polysaccharides, carbohydrates, polyphenols, photosynthetic pigments, vitamins, and minerals, some of which are represented, can act as potent antioxidants and have beneficial effects as anti-diabetic and chemotherapeutic drugs, as detailed below. Bioactive phyto-peptides have 3 to 20 amino acid residues and display biological properties such as antioxidant, anti-
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