Title:Reconciling the Gap between Medications and their Potential Leads: The Role
of Marine Metabolites in the Discovery of New Anticancer Drugs: A Comprehensive
Review
Volume: 29
Issue: 39
Author(s): Janvee Thaman, Rashmi Saxena Pal, Motamarri Venkata Naga Lalitha Chaitanya*, Palakurthi Yanadaiah, Prabha Thangavelu, Sarika Sharma, Patrick Amoateng, Smriti Arora, Ponnusankar Sivasankaran, Pratibha Pandey and Avijit Mazumder
Affiliation:
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara 144402, India
Keywords:
Multidrug resistance cancer, natural products, bleomycin, curation, drug discovery, marine metabolites.
Abstract: One-third of people will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives, making it the second
leading cause of death globally each year after cardiovascular disease. The complex anticancer molecular
mechanisms have been understood clearly with the advent of improved genomic, proteomic, and bioinformatics.
Our understanding of the complex interplay between numerous genes and regulatory genetic components
within cells explaining how this might lead to malignant phenotypes has greatly expanded. It was discovered
that epigenetic resistance and a lack of multitargeting drugs were highlighted as major barriers to cancer
treatment, spurring the search for innovative anticancer treatments. It was discovered that epigenetic resistance
and a lack of multitargeting drugs were highlighted as major barriers to cancer treatment, spurring the
search for innovative anticancer treatments. Many popular anticancer drugs, including irinotecan, vincristine,
etoposide, and paclitaxel, have botanical origins. Actinomycin D and mitomycin C come from bacteria, while
bleomycin and curacin come from marine creatures. However, there is a lack of research evaluating the potential
of algae-based anticancer treatments, especially in terms of their molecular mechanisms. Despite increasing
interest in the former, and the promise of the compounds to treat tumours that have been resistant to existing
treatment, pharmaceutical development of these compounds has lagged. Thus, the current review focuses
on the key algal sources that have been exploited as anticancer therapeutic leads, including their biological
origins, phytochemistry, and the challenges involved in converting such leads into effective anticancer drugs.
