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The potential of marine benthic cyanobacteria as a source of anticancer drug candidates was assessed in a screen for induction of cell death (apoptosis) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells. Of the 41 marine cyanobacterial strains screened, more than half contained cell death-inducing activity. Several strains contained activity against AML cells, but not against non-malignant cells like hepatocytes and cardiomyoblasts. The apoptotic cell death induced by the various strains could be distinguished by the role of caspase activation and sensitivity to the recently detected chemotherapy-resistance-associated prosurvival protein LEDGF/p75. One strain (M44) was particularly promising since its activity counteracted the protective effect of LEDGF/p75 overexpressed in AML cells, acted synergistically with the anthracycline anticancer drug daunorubicin in AML cells, and protected cardiomyoblasts against the toxic effect of anthracyclines. We conclude that culturable benthic marine cyanobacteria from temperate environments provide a promising and hitherto underexploited source for novel antileukemic drugs.

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Two novel cyclic lipopeptides, anabaenolysin A and anabaenolysin B, were isolated from two benthic cyanobacterial strains of the genus Anabaena . This novel class of cyanobacterial lipopeptides has a general structure of a small peptide ring consisting of four amino acids from which two are proteinogenic and two unusual; glycine 1 , glycine 2 , 2-(3-amino-5-oxytetrahydrofuran-2-yl)-2-hydroxyacetic acid 3 and a long unsaturated C 18 β-amino acid 4 with a conjugated triene structure. They are distinguished by the presence of a conjugated dienic structure in the C18 β-amino acid present in anabaenolysin A but not in anabaenolysin B. Conjugated triene structure generates a typical UV spectrum for anabaenolysins for easy recognition. Anabaenolysin A constituted up to 400 ppm of the cyanobacterial dry weight. We found evidence of thirteen variants of anabaenolysins in one cyanobacterial strain. This suggests that the anabaenolysins are an important class of secondary metabolites in benthic Anabaena cyanobacteria. Both anabaenolysin A and B had cytolytic activity on a number of mammalian cell lines.

In spite of the high abundance and species diversity of diatoms, only a few bioactive compounds from them have been described. The present study reveals a high number of mammalian cell death inducing substances in biofilm-associated diatoms sampled from the intertidal zone. Extracts from the genera Melosira, Amphora, Phaeodactylum and Nitzschia were all found to induce leukemia cell death, with either classical apoptotic or autophagic features. Several extracts also contained inhibitors of thrombin-induced blood platelet activation. Some of this activity was caused by a high content of adenosine in the diatoms, ranging from 0.07 to 0.31 μg/mg dry weight. However, most of the bioactivity was adenosine deaminase-resistant. An adenosine deaminase-resistant active fraction from one of the extracts was partially purified and shown to induce apoptosis with a distinct phenotype. The results show that benthic diatoms typically found in the intertidal zone may represent a richer source of interesting bioactive compounds than hitherto recognized.