Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription (STAT) Regulatory Networks in Marine Organisms: From Physiological Observations towards Marine Drug Discovery.
Part of our ocean's richness comes from its extensive history of supporting life, resulting in a highly diverse ecological system. To date, over 250,000 species of marine organisms have been identified, but it is speculated that the actual number of marine species exceeds one million, including several hundreds of millions of species of marine microorganisms. Past studies suggest that approximately 70% of all deep-sea microorganisms, gorgonians, and sea sponges produce secondary metabolites with anti-cancer activities. Recently, novel FDA-approved drugs derived from marine sponges have been shown to reduce metastatic breast cancer, malignant lymphoma, and Hodgkin's disease. Despite the fact that many marine natural products have been shown to possess a good inhibition potential against most of the cancer-related cell signaling pathways, only a few marine natural products have been shown to target JAK/STAT signaling. In the present paper, we describe the JAK/STAT signaling pathways found in marine organisms, before elaborating on the recent advances in the field of STAT inhibition by marine natural products and the potential application in anti-cancer drug discovery.
Department of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea. snujylee@snu.ac.kr.
Jin-Young
JY
Lee
Department of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea. barbora.orlikova@lbmcc.lu.|Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire du Cancer, Hôpital Kirchberg 9, rue Edward Steichen, Luxembourg 2540, Luxembourg. barbora.orlikova@lbmcc.lu.
Barbora
B
Orlikova
Department of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea. marcdiederich@snu.ac.kr.
Marc
M
Diederich
D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D059001:Aquatic Organisms / Q000235:genetics*; D001688:Biological Products / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000379:methods; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D001688:Biological Products
JAK/STAT signaling; anti-cancer; drug discovery