Delving into the Seabed's Lifesaving Treasures
Hidden Medicines Unveiled
From the depths of the ocean, ancient marine organisms are shining a light on our future. vessels have long harnessed the healing powers of land-based plants and animals to developed medicines. But as we delve deeper, we're uncovering a vast array of bioactive compounds within fish, corals, and most intriguingly, marine sponges.
Just like the AIDS pandemic in the 1980s, the groundbreaking research into deriving medicines from the ocean's depths is radically transforming our lives on land. In 1981, the world's first official report of the HIV/AIDS epidemic served as a wake-up call. Scientists, desperate for a breakthrough, turned to some unlikely suspects: abandoned drugs developed years earlier but cast aside due to their ineffectiveness.
One such drug was Azidothymidine, or AZT. Back in 1964, scientists had first attempted to use AZT as a treatment for cancer, but it didn't quite cut it. Yet, in 1985, researchers at the National Cancer Institute in Maryland found something unexpected: AZT could suppress HIV replication without damaging normal cells. With this discovery, a new hope was born, even as serious side effects, including intestinal issues and immune system damage, made themselves known.
Soon after, a British pharmaceutical company called Burroughs Wellcome funded a clinical trial to evaluate the drug in people with AIDS. Though the results revealed a few harsh realities, there was a twinkle of hope: AZT did significantly decrease the fatality rate. In March 1987, AZT became the first drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating AIDS.
But AZT's journey didn't end there. It turned out that the ocean played a critical role in the drug's formation – a role that continues to be unveiled today.
For millennia, human beings have been exploring the natural world, collecting resources, and yes, medicines. Penicillin, first discovered in 1928, and aspirin, isolated from the willow tree, have become household names. More recently, however, attention has turned to the ocean and the creatures residing there, like microbes, algae, sponges, and bryozoans.
Marine sponges, in particular, have proved to be an especially rich source of new biochemical compounds. With nearly 10,000 known species worldwide, scientists like Shirley Pomponi, a self-described "medical sponge hunter," have dedicated their careers to exploring the depths and uncovering the hidden secrets of these ancient creatures.
Pomponi was hooked by marine biology in college, and by 1984, she had earned her doctorate in biological oceanography. Soon after, she joined the team at the Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research, and Technology at Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. Her mission was simple but far-reaching: find and grind.
With bulleted determination, Pomponi and her fellow researchers dive to uncover organisms that seem unusual due to their shape, color, or size. They collect these organisms, both in shallow waters using SCUBA gear and in the deep with remotely operated submersibles, then take them back to the lab to analyze their chemistry.
When something promising emerges from their tests, they isolate the active molecule, identifying its mechanism of action, and test it against various cell types to confirm its effectiveness. And just like that, a lifesaving drug may be born.
The ocean, covering over 70% of Earth's surface, remains a vast, largely uncharted territory, full of mystery and potential. Footprints on dry land are easy to track, but as Rachel Carson once said, the ocean is a "great mother of life," and we are still learning its ways.
The ocean harbors 99% of all living space on the planet, and it is home to strange and wonderful species that scientists estimate are yet to be classified. And among the most strange and wonderful are the marine sponges.
It was German-American chemist Werner Bergmann who first pioneered scientific interest in Earth's underwater pharmacy nearly 80 years ago. Accidentally discovering a sea sponge in shallow Florida Keys waters, Bergmann found that it contained a new type of nucleoside, which laid the foundation for the release of cytarabine – the first marine-derived medical drug – in 1969.
From cytarabine, other drugs followed, including the HIV/AIDS treatment, AZT, and aciclovir, the first antiviral medication. Today, researchers continue to uncover new marine-derived drugs in clinical trials, offering hope for the future.
But bridging the gap between discovery and development remains a significant challenge. The sustainable supply of oceanic organisms presents a major issue, as deep-water sponges are difficult to access, and collecting enough material for meaningful experimentation can be time-consuming.
Taking matters into her own hands, Pomponi and her team are working on in vitro cell development, trying to grow cells from marine organisms in the laboratory. "How can we get cells from these sponges that produce chemicals that have human health applications," she asks, "and grow those cells in the laboratory, so we don't have to keep going back and collecting from the natural environment?"
Their progress is promising. In 2019, they made a significant breakthrough, growing sponge cells in culture for the first time. An EU grant has allowed them to scale up production for anti-cancer compounds, bringing us one step closer to a sustainable and accessible source of marine-derived medicines.
The future of marine pharmacology looks bright, with over 30,000 new chemicals discovered from marine-based species in the last 40 years. As we continue to unravel the mysteries of the ocean and its inhabitants, there's no telling what lifesaving discoveries might await us. It's an exciting time to be exploring the deep blue.
- The groundbreaking research into deriving medicines from the ocean's depths, as seen with the discovery of AZT, signals a new era in medical-conditions treatment, demonstrating the promise of science and health-and-wellness advancements through marine biology.
- Shirley Pomponi, a renowned 'medical sponge hunter', is dedicated to finding compounds in marine sponges that can be used against medical-conditions like cancer. Her in vitro cell development work aims to create a sustainable and accessible source of marine-derived medicines, further emphasizing the significant potential of the ocean in science and health-and-wellness.
