Abstract
In the last decades Blue Growth policy in european and non-european countries produced a great impulse in applied marine sciences, comprehending the research of new bioactive molecules in marine organisms. These organisms are a great source of natural compounds with unique features resulting from the huge variability of marine habitats and species living in them. Most of the marine compounds in use and in clinical trials are drugs for cancer therapy and many of them are conjugated to antibody to form antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). Severe pain, viral infections, hypertriglyceridemia, obesity, Alzheimer’s and other CNS diseases are further target conditions for these pharmaceuticals. This review summarizes the state-of-the-art marine drugs focusing on the most successful results in the fast expanding field of marine pharmacology.
Highlights
The terrestrial environment of our planet has always been a great source of molecules for the discovery of new drugs and lead compounds
In the antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), an average of four monomethyl-auristatin E (MMAE) groups are each linked to the monoclonal antibody (Mab) via a valine-citrulline linker to give vcMMAE; MMAE groups become free into the cells for the activity of lysosome proteases [44,45]
The second marketed MMAE-containing ADC is polatuzumab vedotin, where MAAE is conjugated to a humanized Mab directed against CD79b, a protein expressed in B lymphocytes, in chronic lymphatic leukemia and in most types of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas. [55]
Summary
The terrestrial environment of our planet has always been a great source of molecules for the discovery of new drugs and lead compounds. The development of pharmacological resistance to traditional therapies and the difficulties in the treatment of many diseases has broadened the horizon of pharmacological research considering biologically active compounds derived from marine organisms. This was possible thanks to the development of advanced technologies to explore underwater environments that have allowed access to organisms previously unreachable, to the aquaculture techniques and the Blue Economy politics sustaining the expansion of the Blue Growth. The conditions of marine environments are incredibly vast; for example, the temperature ranges from −1.5 ◦ C in the frozen seas of both poles to 350 ◦ C in the hydrothermal ecosystems found on the ocean floor This is the reason for a extraordinary great biodiversity reflecting a just as big chemodiversity, often very different from terrestrial one [3]. The present review is focused on the marine origin and the pharmacological features of drugs that obtained approval on the market by EMA and/or FDA authorities, and on ongoing clinical trials on sea-derived molecules
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