Antineoplastic components of marine animals

REFERENCES to the biological properties of marine organisms date back to antiquity¹. For example, hieroglyphics on the tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ti (approximately 2700 BC) described the poisonous puffer fish Tetraodon stellatus. Perhaps the earliest recorded use of a marine organism in primitive medical practice occurred when the Roman, Plinius Secundus (AD 29-79), recommended that the sting unit of the stingray be ground up and used for treatment of toothache and in obstetrics. The first modern pharmacological and chemical studies of a substance from a marine animal probably involved tetrodotoxin from the poisonous puffer fish (for leading references see refs. 2 and 3). In recent years, extracts from certain sponges and coelenteratas have been shown to have antibiotic properties^4-8. There have also been indications that marine invertebrates produce various other potentially medically useful components^9-11. Most important from the standpoint of cancer chemotherapy have been observations that starfish meal^12-14 and the peanut worm Bonellia fulginosa^15,16 and that partially purified material from certain sea cucumbers [Echinodermata] have antitumour activity against sarcoma-180 and Krebs-2 ascites tumour^10,17-19. Also certain clam¹⁸ (Mollusca) extracts and material from oysters have antitumour properties^9-11.