Medicines from the Sea

There is no doubt that the development of drugs has greatly improved the quality and duration of human life. In the past, scientists involved in the development of new drugs have focused most of their attention on terrestrial organisms, in large part because they were well known and more readily available. It is now widely recognized that marine organisms from specific marine habitats are not only excellent producers of natural chemicals with different structures and pharmacological activities, but also most likely sources of marine drugs. The discovery of marine medicines began in the late 1970s, when investigators clearly demonstrated the uniqueness of marine plants and animals in genetics and biochemistry. Until now, more and more compounds from marine sources have been truly explored, which has led to groundbreaking developments in the pharmaceutical industry.

Common marine-derived compounds for the treatment of human diseases

Some of the chemicals produced by marine organisms that may be useful in the treatment of human diseases include, but are not limited to the following.

• Ecteinascidin

Ecteinascidin 743 (known as trabectedin) is a marine anticancer agent used to treat advanced soft tissue sarcoma and ovarian cancer. Its chemical composition is complex, the mechanism of action is original, and it has significant activity against human cancer.

• Discodermalide

Discodermolide is a natural product isolated from a rare Caribbean deep sea sponge. It is a polyhydroxylated lactone that exhibits anticancer activity, as well as immunosuppressive activity. It attacks cancer cells in a similar way to the successful anti-cancer drug Taxol, which has become the best-selling anti-cancer drug in history. However, Discodermolide appears to be far more potent than Taxol against tumors that have developed multiple-drug resistance, with an IC50 in the low nanomolar range ^[1].

• Bryostatin

Bryostatins are a group of macrolide lactones from the marine organism Bugula neritina. In recent years, bryostatins have been shown to have potent bioactivity in the central nervous system. They have been studied in clinical trials as anti-cancer agents, as anti-HIV/AIDS agents and in people with Alzheimer's disease.

• Pseudopterosins

The Caribbean Sea whip Pseudopterogorgia elisabethae (Octocorallia, Cnidaria) has been found to contain the pseudopterosins, a class of natural products, which have been characterized as diterpene-pentoseglycosides ^[2]. They have anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities, and their mechanism of action is different from common non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Therefore, they have successfully attracted the attention of many synthetic chemists.

• Halichondrin B

Halichondrin B is a complex polyether macrolide originally isolated from the sponge Halichondria okadai in 1986. It has a very high potency as an antitumor agent and a high therapeutic index. In 1992, the complete chemical synthesis of halichondrin B was achieved by the team of Yoshito Kishi at Harvard University, an achievement that eventually made possible the discovery and development of the structurally simplified and pharmaceutically optimized analog eribulin ^[3].

Alfa Chemistry is passionate about marine biological resources. We are keen to discover new and interesting bioactive molecules from marine organisms that have the potential to be a source of anticancer, antimicrobial, antiviral and anti-inflammatory drugs, as well as treatments for several other conditions. If you are also interested, please feel free to contact us. Let's create new possibilities together!

References

1. De Souza M V N. (+)-Discodermolide: a marine natural product against cancer. The Scientific World JOURNAL. 2004, 4: 415-436.
2. Look, S. A.; et al. The pseudopterosins: anti-inflammatory and analgesic natural products from the sea whip Pseudopterogorgia elisabethae. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 1986, 83(17): 6238-6240.
3. Melvin, J. Y.; et al. Discovery of E7389, a fully synthetic macrocyclic ketone analogue of halichondrin B. Anticancer agents from natural products. 2005, 347-346.

For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic or therapeutic procedures.