Center of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Annamalai University, Parangipettai 608 502, Tamil Nadu, India.
J Oncol. 2010;2010:214186. doi: 10.1155/2010/214186. Epub 2011 Feb 27.
Marine floras, such as bacteria, actinobacteria, cyanobacteria, fungi, microalgae, seaweeds, mangroves, and other halophytes are extremely important oceanic resources, constituting over 90% of the oceanic biomass. They are taxonomically diverse, largely productive, biologically active, and chemically unique offering a great scope for discovery of new anticancer drugs. The marine floras are rich in medicinally potent chemicals predominantly belonging to polyphenols and sulphated polysaccharides. The chemicals have displayed an array of pharmacological properties especially antioxidant, immunostimulatory, and antitumour activities. The phytochemicals possibly activate macrophages, induce apoptosis, and prevent oxidative damage of DNA, thereby controlling carcinogenesis. In spite of vast resources enriched with chemicals, the marine floras are largely unexplored for anticancer lead compounds. Hence, this paper reviews the works so far conducted on this aspect with a view to provide a baseline information for promoting the marine flora-based anticancer research in the present context of increasing cancer incidence, deprived of the cheaper, safer, and potent medicines to challenge the dreadful human disease.
海洋植物群，如细菌、放线菌、蓝藻、真菌、微藻、海藻、红树林和其他盐生植物，是极其重要的海洋资源，构成了海洋生物量的 90%以上。它们在分类上多种多样，生产力高，生物活性强，化学成分独特，为发现新的抗癌药物提供了广阔的空间。海洋植物群富含具有药用潜力的化学物质，主要属于多酚和硫酸多糖。这些化学物质表现出多种药理特性，特别是抗氧化、免疫刺激和抗肿瘤活性。植物化学物质可能激活巨噬细胞，诱导细胞凋亡，防止 DNA 氧化损伤，从而控制癌变。尽管海洋植物群蕴藏着丰富的化学物质，但在抗癌先导化合物方面，它们在很大程度上尚未得到开发。因此，本文综述了这方面的研究工作，以期为在癌症发病率不断上升的情况下，促进基于海洋植物群的抗癌研究提供基线信息，因为目前缺乏更廉价、更安全、更有效的药物来应对这一可怕的人类疾病。
