Marine lectins and their medicinal applications

Abstract

Marine organisms have been extensively explored for the last several decades as potential sources of novel biologically active compounds, and extensive research has been conducted on lectins. Lectins derived from marine organisms are structurally diverse and also differ from those identified from terrestrial organisms. Marine lectins appear to be particularly useful in some biological applications. They seem to induce negligible immunogenicity because they have a relatively small size, are more stable due to extensive disulfide bridge formation, and have high specificity for complex glyco-conjugates and carbohydrates instead of simple sugars. It is clear that many of them have not yet been extensively studied when compared with their terrestrial counterparts. Marine lectins can be used to design and develop new potentially useful therapeutic agents. This review encompasses recent research on the isolation and identification of marine lectins with potential value in medicinal applications.

Antibacterial efficacy and phytochemical characterization of some marine brown algal extracts from the red sea, Egypt

“…The marine algal extracts have many phytochemicals, such as alkaloids, flavonoids steroids, terpenes, glycosides, tannins and phenolic compounds (CARDOSO & al [7]; SUMAYYA & MURUGAN [8]). Furthermore, halogenated ketone, fatty acids, alkalines, and cyclic polysulphides were recorded (CHEUNG & al [9]; KHELIL-RADJI & al [10]). These compounds serve as a source of medicinal and ornamental purposes, flavoring, food additives, and preservatives.…”

Lectins from red algae and their biomedical potential

“…Recently, there has been increased interest in lectins from various marine species such as algae, sponge, mollusk, fish and arthropod, owing to their potential value in various medical applications (Rabelo et al 2012;Cheung et al 2015). Marine algae are excellent sources of novel lectin molecules for research and have wide applications in various fields such as pharmaceutical science, medicine, food science, glycobiology and biochemistry (Praseptiangga 2015(Praseptiangga , 2017.…”

Cyanobacterial lectins characteristics and their role as antiviral agents

“…Cyanobacterial lectins are more potent anti-HIV agents than plant lectins as they directly bind to viral envelope (gp 120) and inhibit HIV entry into host cell with low (picomolar to nanomolar range) EC50 values [42]. In recent years, many cyanobacterial lectins have been discovered having anti-viral potential and capable of being involved in microbicide development based on their glycan specificity [43].…”

“…Owing to the presence of varied glycans on the virus cell surface, an array of glycan-binding lectins from various marine organisms play an important role as anti-viral agents [42]. Further role of various algal lectins as potential HIV microbicide candidate [43] and their use in biomedical research [44] has been reviewed.…”