Abstract

Breast cancer and prostate cancer are the most common invasive types of cancers in women and men. Many of the recent advances in understanding the pathophysiology of breast and prostate cancers have paved the way for new treatment strategies. The alarming increase in the global cancer death toll has fueled the quest for new effective anti-tumor drugs through biological screening of both terrestrial and marine organisms. Recently, marine-derived natural bioactive products, isolated from aquatic fungi, cyanobacteria, sponges, algae, and tunicates, have been found to exhibit various anti-cancer activities including anti-angiogenic, anti-proliferative, inhibition of topoisomerase activities and induction of apoptosis. Thus, marine derived chemical derivatives such as alkaloids, macrolides, terpenes and other miscellaneous compounds possess anticancer properties. Hence, this review discusses the role of marine compounds on breast and prostate cancer.

Keywords: Alkaloids, breast, cancer, macrolides, prostate, spongistatin.