Marine Cyanobacteria and Microalgae Metabolites-A Rich Source of Potential Anticancer Drugs

Abstract

Cancer is at present one of the utmost deadly diseases worldwide. Past efforts in cancer research have focused on natural medicinal products. Over the past decades, a great deal of initiatives was invested towards isolating and identifying new marine metabolites via pharmaceutical companies, and research institutions in general. Secondary marine metabolites are looked at as a favorable source of potentially new pharmaceutically active compounds, having a vast structural diversity and diverse biological activities; therefore, this is an astonishing source of potentially new anticancer therapy. This review contains an extensive critical discussion on the potential of marine microbial compounds and marine microalgae metabolites as anticancer drugs, highlighting their chemical structure and exploring the underlying mechanisms of action. Current limitation, challenges, and future research pathways were also presented.

Keywords: cancer; clinical studies; in vitro; in vivo; marine; microalgae; microbes; prevention; therapy.

Figure 1

Isolated marine cyanobacteria-derivedanthracyclines, phenoxazin-3-one compounds, polyketides and peptides (1–8).

Figure 2

Isolated marine cyanobacteria-derived peptides (9–16).

Figure 3

Isolated cyanobacteria-derived peptides (17–22).

Figure 4

Isolated marine cyanobacteria-derived peptides (23–28).

Figure 5

Isolated marine cyanobacteria-derived peptides (29–34).

Figure 6

Isolated marine cyanobacteria peptides (35–41).

Figure 7

Isolated marine cyanobacteria-derived peptides (42–49).

Figure 8

Isolated marine cyanobacteria peptides (50–55).

Figure 9

Isolated marine cyanobacteria peptides (56–61).

Figure 10

Isolated marine cyanobacteria-derived peptides (62–70).

Figure 11

Isolated marine cyanobacteria-derived peptides (71–77).

Figure 12

Isolated marine cyanobacteria-derived macrolides (78–83).

Figure 13

Isolated marine cyanobacteria-derived macrolides (84–90).

Figure 14

Isolated marine cyanobacteria-derived macrolides and lactones (91–95).

Figure 15

Isolated marine cyanobacteria-derived lactones (96–100).

Figure 16

Isolated marine cyanobacteria-derived fatty acid amines (101–105).

Figure 17

Isolated marine cyanobacteria-derived pigment, boron containing metabolite, and phenanthridine alkaloids (106–109).

Figure 18

Chemical structure of polyunsaturated aldehydes and polysaccharides (110–118).

Figure 19

Chemical structures of marine microalgae carotenoids (119–122).

Figure 20

Chemical structure of marine microalgae metabolites (123–128).

Figure 21

Structure of marine microalgae metabolites (129–138).