Coibamide A, a compound produced by a unique community of blue-green algae, has potent anti-cancer activity in mice and cell cultures that model brain tumors and triple negative breast cancer, two of the most aggressive and difficult-to-treat types of cancer, according to a new study.
“The chemical diversity found in nature has always been a significant source of inspiration for drug design and development, but although the medicinal properties of plants have been recognized for thousands of years, marine environments remain relatively unexplored,” said Jane Ishmael, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmacology at Oregon State University and the lead author of the new study. “We think that with this compound, nature has already found a way to target some of the specific proteins that are relevant to the growth of tumors.
