New Leads Against Cancer and Infectious Diseases from Puerto Rican Reef Species

描述(申请人提供)：该研究项目旨在探索波多黎各的海洋生物多样性，作为发现新的和改进的抗癌和抗微生物候选药物的一种手段，并进一步寻求将这些候选药物开发成商业上可以接受的疗法，具有管理和治疗癌症和传染病的能力，并为全球卫生保健做出贡献。长期以来，海洋无脊椎动物一直被认为是新的生物医药物质的可能来源。药理学家、生理学家和生物化学家已经证明，这些新型海洋产品中的许多都以生物医学应用的方式改变了基本的生命过程。这些分子可以作为指导制药和化工行业开发新产品的线索。我们建议的研究特别针对波多黎各海洋无脊椎动物(海绵、柳珊瑚、软体动物和海鞘动物)，作为新的抗癌和抗微生物天然产品的可能资源。由于在波多黎各附近已知的海洋无脊椎动物物种中，只有不到1%的物种对其次生代谢物成分进行了化学评估，其中许多已被证明产生具有强大化学治疗特性的代谢物，因此该地区的生物可能含有丰富的新药。具体地说，在这项研究的四年中，我们计划仔细审查属于四个主要加勒比海门的350个代表性物种的药理和化学。使用不同极性的溶剂(如己烷、二氯甲烷和甲醇)的初始提取将通过细胞毒性和抗微生物活性分析进行监测。只有具有较强细胞毒性和抗微生物特性的萃取物残留物才能通过高效液相色谱/电喷雾质谱和核磁共振波谱进一步筛选其化学结构特征。如果筛选结果有保证，将进行进一步的层析(柱、GC、LC)纯化和分子结构测定。结构鉴定将在很大程度上依赖于波谱方法(如1H和13C核磁共振、MS、IR、UV)和X射线衍射技术。候选化合物将被安排进行临床试验，以评估它们的临床潜力。通过确定这些化合物的化学结构，最终确定产生这些化合物的生化途径，以及控制其生产的环境或生理触发因素，可以开发出增强商业生产的技术。 与公共卫生相关：仅在美国，预计2008年就有140多万新的癌症病例被诊断出来。目前的流行病学证据表明，每年全球有900多万人死于艾滋病毒/艾滋病、疟疾和结核病。我们的研究计划旨在探索海洋无脊椎动物的生物多样性，以此作为发现新的和改进的抗癌和抗感染候选药物的手段，并进一步寻求将这些候选药物开发成商业上可以接受的疗法，具有管理和治疗这些疾病的能力，从而为全球医疗保健做出贡献。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This research venture aims to explore Puerto Rican marine biodiversity as a means to discover new and improved anti-cancer and anti-microbial drug candidates, and further seeks to develop these drug candidates into commercially acceptable therapeutics, with the capacity to manage and treat cancers as well as infectious diseases, and contribute to global health care. Marine invertebrates have been identified for a long time as likely sources of new biomedicinal substances. Pharmacologists, physiologists and biochemists have demonstrated that many of these novel marine products modify fundamental life processes in ways suggesting biomedical applications. These molecules can serve as leads to guide the pharmaceutical and chemical industries in developing new products. Our proposed research aims specifically at Puerto Rican marine invertebrates (sponges, gorgonian corals, mollusks, and ascidians) as a likely resource for novel anti- cancer and anti-microbial natural products. Since less than 1% of the species of marine invertebrates known to exist near Puerto Rico have been assessed chemically for their secondary metabolite composition, and many of these have been shown to produce metabolites possessing potent chemotherapeutic properties, organisms from this region have the potential to contain a wealth of novel drugs. Specifically, during the four years of this research we plan to carefully scrutinize the pharmacology and chemistry of 350 representative species belonging to four major Caribbean phyla. Initial extraction with solvents of different polarities (e.g., hexane, methylene chloride, and methanol) will be monitored using cytotoxicity and anti-microbial activity assays. Only extract residues possessing strong cytotoxic and anti-microbial properties will be screened further for chemical structural features by HPLC/ESI-MS and NMR spectroscopy. Further purification by chromatography (column, GC, LC) and determination of molecular structure will proceed if warranted by the screening results. Structure elucidation will rely heavily on spectral methods (e.g., 1H and 13C NMR, MS, IR, UV) and X-ray diffraction techniques. Candidate compounds will be scheduled for clinical trial to assess their clinical potential. By determining the chemical structures and, eventually, the biochemical pathways by which these compounds are produced and the environmental or physiological triggers controlling their production, techniques of enhanced commercial production can be developed. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: In the USA alone over 1.4 million new cancer cases are expected to be diagnosed in 2008. Current epidemiological evidence suggests that every year HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis account for over 9 million deaths worldwide. Our research program aims to explore marine invertebrate biodiversity as a means to discover new and improved anti-cancer and anti-infective drug candidates, and further seeks to develop these drug candidates into commercially acceptable therapeutics, with the capacity to manage and treat these diseases, thus contributing to global health care.