Abstract
Oceans cover more than 70 percent of the surface of our planet and are characterized by huge taxonomic and chemical diversity of marine organisms. Several studies have shown that marine organisms produce a variety of compounds, derived from primary or secondary metabolism, which may have antiviral activities. In particular, certain marine metabolites are active towards a plethora of viruses. Multiple mechanisms of action have been found, as well as different targets. This review gives an overview of the marine-derived compounds discovered in the last 10 years. Even if marine organisms produce a wide variety of different compounds, there is only one compound available on the market, Ara-A, and only another one is in phase I clinical trials, named Griffithsin. The recent pandemic emergency caused by SARS-CoV-2, also known as COVID-19, highlights the need to further invest in this field, in order to shed light on marine compound potentiality and discover new drugs from the sea.
Highlights
Viruses are the most abundant entities of the Ocean and, their existence has been known for many years, they have recently been recognized as important factors influencing microbial communities [6], causing marine organism mortality, and driving global geochemical cycles [7]
The results showed that a significant inhibition of Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia virus (VHSV) replication was induced by Myticin class C (Myt C), while no significant effects were detected for Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) virus [168]
Real Time-qPCR analyses revealed that the mRNA levels of an early gene involved in White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) replication (IE1), significantly decreased when hematopoietic tissue (Hpt) cells were infected with WSSV viruses pre-treated with Sp-ALFs proteins [184]
Summary
The vast ocean extension and its unique environments are characterized by huge taxonomic and chemical diversity of marine organisms [2,3], and it has been classified, already in the 1980s, as the largest reservoir of natural products to be evaluated for their activity as drugs [4]. There are only 12 marine compound-derived drugs available on the market, and about 24 natural products in Phase I to Phase III clinical trials [2]. Viruses are known to produce damages to marine organisms, as well as to terrestrial animals and plants, and causing damages to humans and economies. The aim of this review is to summarize the last 10-year research on antiviral compounds isolated from marine organisms, from bacteria to vertebrates
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