Bioactive Peptides and Depsipeptides with Anticancer Potential: Sources from Marine Animals

Abstract

Biologically active compounds with different modes of action, such as, antiproliferative, antioxidant, antimicrotubule, have been isolated from marine sources, specifically algae and cyanobacteria. Recently research has been focused on peptides from marine animal sources, since they have been found as secondary metabolites from sponges, ascidians, tunicates, and mollusks. The structural characteristics of these peptides include various unusual amino acid residues which may be responsible for their bioactivity. Moreover, protein hydrolysates formed by the enzymatic digestion of aquatic and marine by-products are an important source of bioactive peptides. Purified peptides from these sources have been shown to have antioxidant activity and cytotoxic effect on several human cancer cell lines such as HeLa, AGS, and DLD-1. These characteristics imply that the use of peptides from marine sources has potential for the prevention and treatment of cancer, and that they might also be useful as molecular models in anticancer drug research. This review focuses on the latest studies and critical research in this field, and evidences the immense potential of marine animals as bioactive peptide sources.

Cytotoxic and Genotoxic Studies on the Mucus of Indian Volute Melo broderipii (Gmelin 1758) and Spider Conch Lambis lambis (Linn 1758)

“…Embryo and eggs of sea urchin have been used as a model for studying cell division and embryologic development for several years. This model has also been utilized to detect the cytotoxic and teratogenic activities of new compounds [10,11]. At fertilization, egg undergoes a complex series of morphological, physiological, biochemical and, in many cases, morphogenetic changes that ultimately lead to differentiation of the new individual [17].…”

“…Also, this model has been utilized to detect the cytotoxic and teratogenic activities of new compounds [10,11]. Recently, some works have emphasized the study of alterations in sea urchin egg development as a multicellular model for evaluating cytotoxic activity.…”

Ci8 short, a novel LPS-induced peptide from the ascidian Ciona intestinalis, modulates responses of the human immune system

“…Marine invertebrates produce a large number of unique and structurally diversified natural products which represent an important source of molecules exhibiting a wide range of bioactivities such as anticancer, antiviral, antifungal, and antibacterial properties (OteroGonzález et al, 2010;Cheung et al, 2015;Suarez-Jimenez et al, 2012). An LPS challenge in Ciona intestinalis induces a CR-APA event encoding for a Ci8 short transcript that is strongly up-regulated in immune cells and present the 3′ UTR mRNA peculiar cis-regulatory elements essential for innate immune responses.…”

“…Many discoveries have been made in the field, but the mechanisms by which the innate immune system can control adaptive immunity remain to be fully clarified. Invertebrates produce a large number of bioactive molecules which have been proven to fulfill important immunological roles such as antibacterial or anticancer activities (Otero-González et al, 2010;Cheung et al, 2015;Suarez-Jimenez et al, 2012). A recent idea is to use invertebrates as a source of molecules with potential immunoregulatory activities to improve strategies for studying human immune system responses (Davis, 2008;Germain and Schwartzberg, 2011).…”

Secondary Metabolites from Marine Sources: Review

“…Son yıllarda deniz biyoaktif peptitlerinin antikanser etkilerinin bulunması bu etken maddelere olan ilginin daha da artmasını sağlamıştır. 18,19 Üzerinde araştırma yapılmış sünger türlerinin %10'dan fazlasının sitotoksik özellik göstermiş olması yeni ilaçların keşfi için araştırmacılara umut vermektedir. [20][21][22] Süngerlerin coğrafi dağılışları da çok önemli-dir.Yüksek biyoaktivite gösteren süngerler 61 farklı ülkeden toplanmıştır.…”