Department of Precision Medicine, University of Campania 'Luigi Vanvitelli', Via L. De Crecchio 7, 80138 Naples, Italy.
Mar Drugs. 2020 Dec 31;19(1):15. doi: 10.3390/md19010015.
Sessile organisms such as seaweeds, corals, and sponges continuously adapt to both abiotic and biotic components of the ecosystem. This extremely complex and dynamic process often results in different forms of competition to ensure the maintenance of an ecological niche suitable for survival. A high percentage of marine species have evolved to synthesize biologically active molecules, termed secondary metabolites, as a defense mechanism against the external environment. These natural products and their derivatives may play modulatory roles in the epigenome and in disease-associated epigenetic machinery. Epigenetic modifications also represent a form of adaptation to the environment and confer a competitive advantage to marine species by mediating the production of complex chemical molecules with potential clinical implications. Bioactive compounds are able to interfere with epigenetic targets by regulating key transcriptional factors involved in the hallmarks of cancer through orchestrated molecular mechanisms, which also establish signaling interactions of the tumor microenvironment crucial to cancer phenotypes. In this review, we discuss the current understanding of secondary metabolites derived from marine organisms and their synthetic derivatives as epigenetic modulators, highlighting advantages and limitations, as well as potential strategies to improve cancer treatment.
固着生物，如海藻、珊瑚和海绵，不断适应生态系统的非生物和生物组成部分。这个极其复杂和动态的过程通常会导致不同形式的竞争，以确保维持适合生存的生态位。很大比例的海洋物种已经进化出合成具有生物活性的分子，称为次生代谢物，作为抵御外部环境的防御机制。这些天然产物及其衍生物可能在表观基因组和与疾病相关的表观遗传机制中发挥调节作用。表观遗传修饰也是对环境的一种适应形式，通过介导具有潜在临床意义的复杂化学分子的产生，赋予海洋物种竞争优势。生物活性化合物能够通过调节参与癌症特征的关键转录因子来干扰表观遗传靶点，通过协调的分子机制，这也建立了对癌症表型至关重要的肿瘤微环境的信号相互作用。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了海洋生物来源的次生代谢物及其合成衍生物作为表观遗传调节剂的现有理解，强调了它们的优缺点，以及改善癌症治疗的潜在策略。
