Probing the Therapeutic Potential of Marine Phyla by SPE Extraction

Abstract

The marine environment is potentially a prolific source of small molecules with significant biological activities. In recent years, the development of new chromatographic phases and the progress in cell and molecular techniques have facilitated the search for marine natural products (MNPs) as novel pharmacophores and enhanced the success rate in the selection of new potential drug candidates. However, most of this exploration has so far been driven by anticancer research and has been limited to a reduced number of taxonomic groups. In this article, we report a test study on the screening potential of an in-house library of natural small molecules composed of 285 samples derived from 57 marine organisms that were chosen from among the major eukaryotic phyla so far represented in studies on bioactive MNPs. Both the extracts and SPE fractions of these organisms were simultaneously submitted to three different bioassays—two phenotypic and one enzymatic—for cytotoxic, antidiabetic, and antibacterial activity. On the whole, the screening of the MNP library selected 11 potential hits, but the distribution of the biological results showed that SPE fractionation increased the positive score regardless of the taxonomic group. In many cases, activity could be detected only in the enriched fractions after the elimination of the bulky effect due to salts. On a statistical basis, sponges and molluscs were confirmed to be the most significant source of cytotoxic and antimicrobial products, but other phyla were found to be effective with the other therapeutic targets.

Identification of the Marine Alkaloid Lepadin A as Potential Inducer of Immunogenic Cell Death

“…This approach led to the discovery of a novel class of sulfoglycolipid adjuvants, collectively named Sulfavants, with unconventional immunomodulatory activity on DCs and in vivo antigen-specific immunization [ 32 ]. Recently, the technology has been further tested on a library of extracts for cytotoxic, antibiotic and anti-diabetic activity [ 33 ].…”

Microbial Interactions between Marine Microalgae and Fungi: From Chemical Ecology to Biotechnological Possible Applications

“…Microalgae are known to produce a huge portfolio of bioactive compounds with applications in different industrial sectors [ 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 ]. However, productivity still imposes high costs for specific operation procedures, such as harvesting, nutrient supply, and compound extraction.…”

Chemical and Pharmacological Prospection of the Ascidian Cystodytes dellechiajei

“…The tunicate extract belonging to our in-house library of marine natural products has been screened within a bioassay platform to identify possible ligands of receptors involved in innate immune responses [10,11]. Particularly, we were focused on the study of immunomodulatory receptors such as human triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2).…”