School of Material Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798, Singapore.
Department of Biomedical Sciences and Medicine, University of Algarve, Ed. 2 - Ala Norte, Campus of Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal.
Curr Med Chem. 2021;28(22):4343-4355. doi: 10.2174/0929867327666200320155053.
Cancer is the world's leading cause of death after heart diseases and involves abnormal cell growth at a primary site and the potential to spread to other parts of the body. Tumors are highly heterogeneous and consist of subgroups of cells with distinct characteristics. Of these, the cancer stem cells (CSC) niche plays a crucial role in driving the spread of the tumor and are thought to provide treatment resistance. CSC is a rare special population of cancer cells exhibiting high tumorigenic properties together with self-renewal and differentiation capability. CSC is not only linked with high tumor-initiating activity, but is also implicated in chemotherapeutic resistance, metastasis, epithelial to mesenchymal transition, and recurrence. Thereafter, novel therapeutic strategies targeting CSC are in need to improve long-term clinical outcomes. The literature supports the evidence that marine natural compounds can exhibit antioxidant, antimitotic, anti-inflammatory, antibiotic as well as anticancer activity. In this review, we will provide an insight into the relevance of selected marine natural products as a source of bioactive compounds with anti-cancer properties to target CSC, which may benefit the development of novel anti-cancer therapeutic strategies.
癌症是继心脏病之后导致全球死亡的主要原因，涉及原发性部位的异常细胞生长，并有可能扩散到身体的其他部位。肿瘤高度异质，由具有不同特征的细胞亚群组成。在这些细胞中，癌症干细胞（CSC）生态位在驱动肿瘤扩散方面起着至关重要的作用，被认为提供了治疗抵抗性。CSC 是一种罕见的特殊癌细胞群体，具有高肿瘤发生特性以及自我更新和分化能力。CSC 不仅与高肿瘤起始活性有关，而且还与化疗耐药性、转移、上皮间质转化和复发有关。因此，需要针对 CSC 的新型治疗策略来改善长期临床结果。文献支持海洋天然化合物具有抗氧化、抗有丝分裂、抗炎、抗生素和抗癌活性的证据。在这篇综述中，我们将深入了解选定的海洋天然产物作为具有抗癌特性的生物活性化合物的来源，以针对 CSC，这可能有利于开发新的抗癌治疗策略。
