Marine Natural Products as Anticancer Agents 3.0 (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9783725866083)

Despite advances in cancer biology and therapeutic strategies in recent decades, cancer remains a huge threat to human health and one of the deadliest diseases worldwide. Therapy failure and consequent cancer relapse are the main factors contributing to high cancer mortality. Accordingly, it is crucial to discover and develop new therapeutic options, including innovative and targeted drugs. Marine natural products reveal unique and rare chemical features not found in terrestrial environments. Such unique scaffolds can inspire the molecular modeling and chemical synthesis of novel anticancer drugs. As these compounds were produced in coevolution with biological systems, they present greater efficiency and specificity for interacting with biological target sites (e.g., receptors, DNA, and proteins). These compounds also exhibit novel mechanisms of action, the ability to modulate distinct intracellular signaling pathways, and present fewer side effects. International regulatory authorities have already approved several marine molecules for treating distinct types of cancer.

This Special Issue highlights the potential of marine natural products as anticancer agents, empathizing with the diversity of the molecular targets and the mechanistic effects.