AN UNDERWATER PHARMACY

      The oceans cover more than two thirds of Earth's surface, yet we've only dipped our toes in the water when it comes to our understanding of this vast expanse - just 5% has so far been explored
       Historically, almost all of our drugs from natural sources came from plants and animals that live on land. But recent searches for new drugs have discovered that marine invertebrates (animals without backbones) produce more antibiotic, anti-cancer, and anti-infamma-tory substances than any group of organisms on land. Strangely, many of these substances come from marine animals that spend most of their lives just sitting around the ocean bed.
     Coral reefs are sometimes considered the medicine cabinets of the 21st century. Coral reef plants and animals are important sources of new medicines being developed to treat cancer, arthritis, human bacterial infections, Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, viruses, and other diseases.





Scientists have already developed many medical treatments from resources found in the world’s oceans, For instance:

• Secosteroids, an enzyme used by corals to protect themselves from disease, is used to treat asthma, arthritis and other inflammatory disorders.

• Bryozoan Bugula neritina, a common fouling organism (similar to barnacles) that’s found in both temperate and tropical climates, is a source for the anti-cancer compound bryostatin 1. The U.S. National Cancer Institute recently collected more than 26,000 pounds of the organism from docks and pilings with little impact on the population.

• Blue-green algae, commonly found in Caribbean mangroves, are used to treat small-cell lung cancer. The National Cancer Institute also endorsed blue-green algae for the treatment of melanoma and some tumors.

 

• Yondelis®, the first new treatment in 30 years for soft-tissue sarcoma, is extracted from the sea squirt, a sac-like filter feeder.

 

• Halaven (eribulin mesylate). Injection is indicated for the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer (mBC) who have previously received at least 2 chemotherapeutic regimens for the treatment of metastatic disease.Prior therapy should have included an anthracycline and a taxane in either the adjuvant or metastatic setting. 

 

•  Tectitethya crypta (formerly known as Cryptotheca crypta) is a large, shallow-water sponge found in the Caribbean.

It was first studied for medical purposes in the 1950s when few scientists or doctors thought to look for medicines in the ocean. But in the sponge, scientists isolated two chemicals—aptly named spongothymidine and spongouridine—which were used as models for the development of a number of anti-viral and anti-cancer drugs. These include the HIV drug AZT, a breakthrough in AIDS treatment in the late 1980s, anti-viral drugs to treat herpes, and an anti-leukemia drug. The latter was approved in 1969 and was the first marine-drug approved for cancer treatment.