scholarly journals The Understudied Phylum Bryozoa as a Promising Source of Anticancer Drugs

Author(s):  
Blanca Figuerola ◽  
Conxita Avila

Recent advances in sampling and novel techniques in drug synthesis and isolation have promoted the discovery of anticancer agents from marine organisms to combat this major threat to public health worldwide. Bryozoans, filter-feeding, sessile aquatic invertebrates often characterized by a calcified skeleton, are an excellent source of pharmacologically interesting compounds including well-known chemical classes such as alkaloids and polyketides. This review covers the literature for secondary metabolites isolated from marine cheilostome and ctenostome bryozoans that have shown potential as cancer drugs. Moreover, we highlight examples such as bryostatins, the most known class of marine-derived compounds from this animal phylum, which is advancing through anticancer clinical trials due to their low toxicity and antineoplastic activity. The bryozoan antitumour compounds discovered until now show a wide range of chemical diversity and biological activities. Therefore, more research focusing on the isolation of secondary metabolites with potential anticancer properties from bryozoans and other overlooked taxa covering wider geographic areas is needed for an efficient bioprospecting of natural products.

Marine Drugs ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (8) ◽  
pp. 477 ◽  
Author(s):  
Figuerola ◽  
Avila

Recent advances in sampling and novel techniques in drug synthesis and isolation have promoted the discovery of anticancer agents from marine organisms to combat this major threat to public health worldwide. Bryozoans, which are filter-feeding, aquatic invertebrates often characterized by a calcified skeleton, are an excellent source of pharmacologically interesting compounds including well-known chemical classes such as alkaloids and polyketides. This review covers the literature for secondary metabolites isolated from marine cheilostome and ctenostome bryozoans that have shown potential as cancer drugs. Moreover, we highlight examples such as bryostatins, the most known class of marine-derived compounds from this animal phylum, which are advancing through anticancer clinical trials due to their low toxicity and antineoplastic activity. The bryozoan antitumor compounds discovered until now show a wide range of chemical diversity and biological activities. Therefore, more research focusing on the isolation of secondary metabolites with potential anticancer properties from bryozoans and other overlooked taxa covering wider geographic areas is needed for an efficient bioprospecting of natural products.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (35) ◽  
pp. 5970-6014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md. Jawaid Akhtar ◽  
Mohammad Shahar Yar ◽  
Vinod Kumar Sharma ◽  
Ahsan Ahmed Khan ◽  
Zulphikar Ali ◽  
...  

This review presents the detailed account of factors leading to cancer and design strategy for the synthesis of benzimidazole derivatives as anticancer agents. The recent survey for cancer treatment in Cancer facts and figures 2017 American Chemical Society has shown progressive development in fighting cancer. Researchers all over the world in both developed and developing countries are in a continuous effort to tackle this serious concern. Benzimidazole and its derivatives showed a broad range of biological activities due to their resemblance with naturally occurring nitrogenous base i.e. purine. The review discussed benzimidazole derivatives showing anticancer properties through a different mechanism viz. intercalation, alkylating agents, topoisomerases, DHFR enzymes, and tubulin inhibitors. Benzimidazole derivatives act through a different mechanism and the substituents reported from the earlier and recent research articles are prerequisites for the synthesis of targeted based benzimidazole derivatives as anticancer agents. The review focuses on an easy comparison of the substituent essential for potency and selectivity through SAR presented in figures. This will further provide a better outlook or fulfills the challenges faced in the development of novel benzimidazole derivatives as anticancer.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 473-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ligia S. da Silveira Pinto ◽  
Thatyana R. Alves Vasconcelos ◽  
Claudia Regina B. Gomes ◽  
Marcus Vinícius N. de Souza

Azetidin-2-ones (β-lactams) and its derivatives are an important group of heterocyclic compounds that exhibit a wide range of pharmacological properties such as antibacterial, anticancer, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory and anticonvulsant. Efforts have been made over the years to develop novel congeners with superior biological activities and minimal potential for undesirable side effects. The present review aimed to highlight some recent discoveries (2013-2019) on the development of novel azetidin-2-one-based compounds as potential anticancer agents.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (26) ◽  
pp. 2945-2959 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiangping Deng ◽  
Yijiao Peng ◽  
Jingduo Zhao ◽  
Xiaoyong Lei ◽  
Xing Zheng ◽  
...  

Rapid tumor growth is dependent on the capability of tumor blood vessels and glycolysis to provide oxygen and nutrients. Tumor hypoxia is a common characteristic of many solid tumors, and it essentially happens when the growth of the tumor exceeds the concomitant angiogenesis. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) as the critical transcription factor in hypoxia regulation is activated to adapt to this hypoxia situation. Flavonoids, widely distributed in plants, comprise many polyphenolic secondary metabolites, possessing broadspectrum pharmacological activities, including their potentiality as anticancer agents. Due to their low toxicity, intense efforts have been made for investigating natural flavonoids and their derivatives that can be used as HIF-1α inhibitors for cancer therapy during the past few decades. In this review, we sum up the findings concerning the inhibition of HIF-1α by natural flavonoids in the last few years and propose the idea of designing tumor vascular and glycolytic multi-target inhibitors with HIF-1α as one of the targets.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 1132-1140
Author(s):  
Heba A.E. Mohamed ◽  
Hossa F. Al-Shareef

Background: Quinolones are a significant group of nitrogen heterocyclic compounds that exist in therapeutic agents, alkaloids, and synthetic small molecules that have important biological activities. A wide range of quinolones have been used as antituberculosis, antibacterial, anti-malarial, antifungal, anticonvulsant, anticancer agents and urease inhibitors. Methods: Ethyl 3,3-disubstituted-2-cyano propionates containing hybride quinolones derivatives were synthesized by the reaction of 1-amino-7-hydroxy-4-methylquinolin-2(1H)-one and its dibromo derivative with α, β-unsaturated carbonyl in ethanol. Results: A novel series of hybrid 2-quinolone derivatives was designed and synthesized. The compounds structures were confirmed using different spectroscopic methods and elemental analysis. The cytotoxic activities of all the compounds were assessed against HepG2 cell line in comparison with doxorubicin as a standard drug. Conclusion: Most compounds revealed superior anti-proliferative activity than the standard. Compound 4b, is the most active compound (IC50 = 0.39mM) compared with doxorubicin (IC50 = 9.23mM). DNA flow cytometric analysis of compound 4b showed cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase with a concomitant increase of cells in apoptotic phase. Dual annexin-V/ propidium iodide staining assay of compound 4b revealed that the selected candidate increased the apoptosis of HepG-2 cells more than control.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (03) ◽  
pp. 4927 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shubhi Srivastava ◽  
Paul A. K.

Plant associated microorganisms that colonize the upper and internal tissues of roots, stems, leaves and flowers of healthy plants without causing any visible harmful or negative effect on their host. Diversity of microbes have been extensively studied in a wide variety of vascular plants and shown to promote plant establishment, growth and development and impart resistance against pathogenic infections. Ferns and their associated microbes have also attracted the attention of the scientific communities as sources of novel bioactive secondary metabolites. The ferns and fern alleles, which are well adapted to diverse environmental conditions, produce various secondary metabolites such as flavonoids, steroids, alkaloids, phenols, triterpenoid compounds, variety of amino acids and fatty acids along with some unique metabolites as adaptive features and are traditionally used for human health and medicine. In this review attention has been focused to prepare a comprehensive account of ethnomedicinal properties of some common ferns and fern alleles. Association of bacteria and fungi in the rhizosphere, phyllosphere and endosphere of these medicinally important ferns and their interaction with the host plant has been emphasized keeping in view their possible biotechnological potentials and applications. The processes of host-microbe interaction leading to establishment and colonization of endophytes are less-well characterized in comparison to rhizospheric and phyllospheric microflora. However, the endophytes are possessing same characteristics as rhizospheric and phyllospheric to stimulate the in vivo synthesis as well as in vitro production of secondary metabolites with a wide range of biological activities such as plant growth promotion by production of phytohormones, siderophores, fixation of nitrogen, and phosphate solubilization. Synthesis of pharmaceutically important products such as anticancer compounds, antioxidants, antimicrobials, antiviral substances and hydrolytic enzymes could be some of the promising areas of research and commercial exploitation.


Biomolecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 542
Author(s):  
Gustavo Penteado Battesini Carretero ◽  
Greice Kelle Viegas Saraiva ◽  
Magali Aparecida Rodrigues ◽  
Sumika Kiyota ◽  
Marcelo Porto Bemquerer ◽  
...  

In a large variety of organisms, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are primary defenses against pathogens. BP100 (KKLFKKILKYL-NH2), a short, synthetic, cationic AMP, is active against bacteria and displays low toxicity towards eukaryotic cells. BP100 acquires a α-helical conformation upon interaction with membranes and increases membrane permeability. Despite the volume of information available, the action mechanism of BP100, the selectivity of its biological effects, and possible applications are far from consensual. Our group synthesized a fluorescent BP100 analogue containing naphthalimide linked to its N-terminal end, NAPHT-BP100 (Naphthalimide-AAKKLFKKILKYL-NH2). The fluorescence properties of naphthalimides, especially their spectral sensitivity to microenvironment changes, are well established, and their biological activities against transformed cells and bacteria are known. Naphthalimide derived compounds are known to interact with DNA disturbing related processes as replication and transcription, and used as anticancer agents due to this property. A wide variety of techniques were used to demonstrate that NAPHT-BP100 bound to and permeabilized zwitterionic POPC and negatively charged POPC:POPG liposomes and, upon interaction, acquired a α-helical structure. Membrane surface high peptide/lipid ratios triggered complete permeabilization of the liposomes in a detergent-like manner. Membrane disruption was driven by charge neutralization, lipid aggregation, and bilayer destabilization. NAPHT-BP100 also interacted with double-stranded DNA, indicating that this peptide could also affect other cellular processes besides causing membrane destabilization. NAPHT-BP100 showed increased antibacterial and hemolytic activities, compared to BP100, and may constitute an efficient antimicrobial agent for dermatological use. By conjugating BP100 and naphthalimide DNA binding properties, NAPHT-BP100 bound to a large extent to the bacterial membrane and could more efficiently destabilize it. We also speculate that peptide could enter the bacteria cell and interact with its DNA in the cytoplasm.


Marine Drugs ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 335
Author(s):  
Xia Yan ◽  
Jing Liu ◽  
Xue Leng ◽  
Han Ouyang

Sinularia is one of the conspicuous soft coral species widely distributed in the world’s oceans at a depth of about 12 m. Secondary metabolites from the genus Sinularia show great chemical diversity. More than 700 secondary metabolites have been reported to date, including terpenoids, norterpenoids, steroids/steroidal glycosides, and other types. They showed a broad range of potent biological activities. There were detailed reviews on the terpenoids from Sinularia in 2013, and now, it still plays a vital role in the innovation of lead compounds for drug development. The structures, names, and pharmacological activities of compounds isolated from the genus Sinularia from 2013 to March 2021 are summarized in this review.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulviye Acar Çevik ◽  
Derya Osmaniye ◽  
Serkan Levent ◽  
Begüm Nurpelin Sağlik ◽  
Betül Kaya Çavuşoğlu ◽  
...  

AbstractCancer is one of the most common causes of death in the world. Despite the importance of combating cancer in healthcare systems and research centers, toxicity in normal tissues and the low efficiency of anticancer drugs are major problems in chemotherapy. Nowadays the aim of many medical research projects is to discover new safer and more effective anticancer agents. 1,3,4-Thiadiazole compounds are important fragments in medicinal chemistry because of their wide range of biological activities, including anticancer activities. The aim of this study was to determine the capacity of newly synthesized 1,3,4-thiadiazole compounds as chemotherapeutic agents. The structures of the obtained compounds were elucidated using 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR and mass spectrometry. Although the thiadiazole derivatives did not prove to be significantly cytotoxic to the tumour tissue cultures, compound 4i showed activity against the C6 rat brain cancer cell line (IC50 0.097 mM) at the tested concentrations.


Marine Drugs ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasmin A. Elkhawas ◽  
Ahmed M. Elissawy ◽  
Mohamed S. Elnaggar ◽  
Nada M. Mostafa ◽  
Eman Al-Sayed ◽  
...  

One of the most widely distributed soft coral species, found especially in shallow waters of the Indo-Pacific region, Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and also the Arctic, is genus Sacrophyton. The total number of species belonging to it was estimated to be 40. Sarcophyton species are considered to be a reservoir of bioactive natural metabolites. Secondary metabolites isolated from members belonging to this genus show great chemical diversity. They are rich in terpenoids, in particular, cembranoids diterpenes, tetratepenoids, triterpenoids, and ceramide, in addition to steroids, sesquiterpenes, and fatty acids. They showed a broad range of potent biological activities, such as antitumor, neuroprotective, antimicrobial, antiviral, antidiabetic, antifouling, and anti-inflammatory activity. This review presents all isolated secondary metabolites from species of genera Sacrophyton, as well as their reported biological activities covering a period of about two decades (1998–2019). It deals with 481 metabolites, including 323 diterpenes, 39 biscembranoids, 11 sesquiterpenes, 53 polyoxygenated sterols, and 55 miscellaneous and their pharmacological activities.


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