The National Cancer Institute's Cancer Bulletin is running a feature on the quest for natural cancer-fighting chemicals. One promising area of inquiry is under the sea, where creatures have evolved some pretty toxic chemicals in the competitive environment of the deep. Scientists from NCI-Frederick's Natural Products Branch are looking for ways to harness these chemicals for drug discovery.
Interest in natural products for drug development has waxed and waned, but there's no denying their importance in oncology, according to NPB Chief Dr. David Newman, as quoted by the article. For example, the humble deep-sea sponge inspired the creation of a cancer drug.
Indeed, more than half of the drugs approved today to treat cancer come from a natural product or a natural product prototype. The article then goes into how chemical samples are extracted from marine animals and tested to see if there are any "hits" that could be useful to drug developers.
Once a useful compound is found, the next challenge is to find enough of the source material to sustain the drug-development process and eventual manufacture. For this stage, the research focuses on creating micro-organisms in the lab that can be induced to provide a continuous source.
- read more on the NCI Cancer Bulletin