Enriching cancer pharmacology with drugs of marine origin

• Published in: British journal of pharmacology Vol. 177; no. 1; pp. 3 - 27
• Main Authors: Jimenez, Paula C., Wilke, Diego V., Branco, Paola C., Bauermeister, Anelize, Rezende‐Teixeira, Paula, Gaudêncio, Susana P., Costa‐Lotufo, Leticia V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.01.2020; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents - isolation & purification; Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use; Aplidin; Biological Products - isolation & purification; Biological Products - therapeutic use; Cancer; Cancer therapies; Chemotherapy; Clinical Trials as Topic - methods; Cytarabine; Cytarabine - isolation & purification; Cytarabine - therapeutic use; Drug development; Drug Discovery - methods; Drug therapy; Drugs; Furans - isolation & purification; Furans - therapeutic use; Humans; Ketones - isolation & purification; Ketones - therapeutic use; Monoclonal antibodies; Natural products; Neoplasms - drug therapy; Neoplasms - pathology; Pharmacology; Porifera; Review; Targeted cancer therapy; Trabectedin - isolation & purification; Trabectedin - therapeutic use
• ISSN: 0007-1188; 1476-5381
• DOI: 10.1111/bph.14876

Marine natural products have proven, over the last half‐century, to be effective biological modulators. These molecules have revealed new targets for cancer therapy as well as dissimilar modes of action within typical classes of drugs. In this scenario, innovation from marine‐based pharmaceuticals has helped advance cancer chemotherapy in many aspects, as most of these are designated as first‐in‐class drugs. Here, by examining the path from discovery to development of clinically approved drugs of marine origin for cancer treatment—cytarabine (Cytosar‐U®), trabectedin (Yondelis®), eribulin (Halaven®), brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris®), and plitidepsin (Aplidin®)— together with those in late clinical trial phases—lurbinectedin, plinabulin, marizomib, and plocabulin—the present review offers a critical analysis of the contributions given by these new compounds to cancer pharmacotherapy.