From Marine Origin to Therapeutics: The Antitumor Potential of Marine Algae-Derived Compounds.

Celso Alves,Helena Gaspar,Joana Silva,Luis M Botana,Rui Pedrosa,Maria C Alpoim,Susete Pinteus

doi:10.3389/fphar.2018.00777

Celso Alves, Helena Gaspar + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2018.00777

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Abstract

Marine environment has demonstrated to be an interesting source of compounds with uncommon and unique chemical features on which the molecular modeling and chemical synthesis of new drugs can be based with greater efficacy and specificity for the therapeutics. Cancer is a growing public health threat, and despite the advances in biomedical research and technology, there is an urgent need for the development of new anticancer drugs. In this field, it is estimated that more than 60% of commercially available anticancer drugs are natural biomimetic inspired. Among the marine organisms, algae have revealed to be one of the major sources of new compounds of marine origin, including those exhibiting antitumor and cytotoxic potential. These compounds demonstrated ability to mediate specific inhibitory activities on a number of key cellular processes, including apoptosis pathways, angiogenesis, migration and invasion, in both in vitro and in vivo models, revealing their potential to be used as anticancer drugs. This review will focus on the bioactive molecules from algae with antitumor potential, from their origin to their potential uses, with special emphasis to the alga Sphaerococcus coronopifolius as a producer of cytotoxic compounds.

Highlights

Natural products (NPs) have been used as therapeutic agents for the treatment of a wide spectrum of illnesses for thousands of years, playing an important role in meeting the basic needs of human populations
Over the last several decades, marine organisms revealed to be an interesting source of both pre-existing and unrecognized compounds with the potential for providing sustainable economic and human benefits. Many of these compounds demonstrated great potential for therapeutic applications, exhibiting specific and potent activities against different diseases, including cancer. Their potential as a source of antitumor drugs has been proven by the current pipeline
Six of nine drugs from marine origin currently in the market are used in cancer treatment, and several compounds originated or derived from marine organisms are undergoing clinical trials with indications for oncologic therapeutics

Summary

Introduction

Natural products (NPs) have been used as therapeutic agents for the treatment of a wide spectrum of illnesses for thousands of years, playing an important role in meeting the basic needs of human populations. Dioxinodehydroeckol (Kong et al, 2009), sargachromanol E (Heo et al, 2011), EI-SP (Wang et al, 2014), siphonaxanthin (Ganesan et al, 2011), sulfated carrageenan (Murad et al, 2015), TDB (Lee et al, 2007), GLP (Thangam et al, 2014), mertensene (Tarhouni-Jabberi et al, 2017), TTB (Choi et al, 2017), DDSD (Velatooru et al, 2016), and clerosterol (Kim et al, 2013) induced apoptosis in different cell lines by similar intracellular signaling pathways, regulated by Caspase (−3, −9 or both) activation, downregulation of Bcl-xL or Bcl-2, upregulation of Bax and cleavage of PARP.

Results

Conclusion