title: Diving for drugs: tunicate anticancer compounds.
abstract: The marine biosphere boasts tremendous biodiversity replete with structurally unique, active and selective secondary metabolites. Bioprospecting for antitumor compounds has been rewarding, and tunicates have been especially successful in yielding prospective cancer therapies. These compounds are now subjected to clinical trials in Europe and the USA. With the ongoing search for potent and specific anticancer drugs, in this article we discuss the unique perspectives, compounds and opportunities afforded by this rich source of potential pharmaceuticals. We discuss marine-derived antitumor drugs, their structures, and their various types and levels of antitumor activities in bench and bedside efforts.
authors.affiliation: David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, 90095-1763, USA. cooper@mednet.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Edwin L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008386:Marine Biology; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D014561:Urochordata / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents