Exploring Marine as a Rich Source of Bioactive Peptides: Challenges and Opportunities from Marine Pharmacology

Abstract

This review highlights the underexplored potential and promises of marine bioactive peptides (MBPs) with unique structural, physicochemical, and biological activities to fight against the current and future human pathologies. A particular focus is given to the marine environment as a significant source to obtain or extract high-value MBPs from touched/untouched sources. For instance, marine microorganisms, including microalgae, bacteria, fungi, and marine polysaccharides, are considered prolific sources of amino acids at large, and peptides/polypeptides in particular, with fundamental structural sequence and functional entities of a carboxyl group, amine, hydrogen, and a variety of R groups. Thus, MBPs with tunable features, both structural and functional entities, along with bioactive traits of clinical and therapeutic value, are of ultimate interest to reinforce biomedical settings in the 21st century. On the other front, as the largest biome globally, the marine biome is the so-called “epitome of untouched or underexploited natural resources” and a considerable source with significant potentialities. Therefore, considering their biological and biomedical importance, researchers around the globe are redirecting and/or regaining their interests in valorizing the marine biome-based MBPs. This review focuses on the widespread bioactivities of MBPs, FDA-approved MBPs in the market, sustainable development goals (SDGs), and legislation to valorize marine biome to underlying the impact role of bioactive elements with the related pathways. Finally, a detailed overview of current challenges, conclusions, and future perspectives is also given to satisfy the stimulating demands of the pharmaceutical sector of the modern world.

Marine Natural Products in Clinical Use

“…ADC is a targeted cytotoxin delivery system that has been very successful, specifically in increasing drug concentrations in target cells, leading to apoptosis and cell death. Among many therapeutic agents, brentuximab vedotin (BV), polatuzumab vedotin (PV), and enfortumab vedotin (Padcev ® , Astellas Pharma US Inc., Northbrook, USA) carry the marine-derived tubulin-binding drug monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE), and belantamab mafodotin (Blenrep ® , GlaxoSmithKline, Brentford, UK) carries MMAF, which are linked to the specifically interacting MAB such as CD30, CD79b, nectin-4, and BCMA (B-cell maturation antigen), respectively ( Figure 7 ) [ 152 ]. An average of 3.5 drug molecules bind on one antibody [ 153 ].…”

“…To date, four marine-derived peptides, namely, plitidepsin, ziconotide, protamine, and keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH), have been identified. These molecules have been discovered from different sources and possess diverse therapeutic properties [ 152 , 171 ].…”

Absolute Stereochemistry Determination of Bioactive Marine-Derived Cyclopeptides by Liquid Chromatography Methods: An Update Review (2018–2022)

“…Among the 91 new marine-derived cyclopeptides, 43 showed promising results regarding anticancer activity and 11 ( 1 – 11 ) were isolated from marine-derived bacteria ( Figure 6 ). Marine-derived bacteria have been shown to be a rich source of natural products, including cyclopeptides [ 71 , 186 ]. Bacterial natural products constitute 29% of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved natural product-derived drugs, which mostly function as antitumor or antibacterial agents [ 187 ].…”

Marine-Derived Compounds Applied in Cardiovascular Diseases: Submerged Medicinal Industry

“…The birth of marine drugs occurred in the 19th century, once biotechnology arose as a science that offered direction to the research of marine medication creation. These marine-derived medications have been utilized to treat various ailments, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and neurodegenerative disease [ 26 ]. Over the last five decades, evidence has accumulated that marine-based plants and microbes have a greater potential for cancer treatment.…”