ABSTRACT
Cancer is one of the major causes for deaths in the world with increasing threats due to lifestyle and global environmental changes. The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that there will be more than 11 million cancer-related deaths per annum by 2030. Moreover, certain defects in existing anticancer drugs like cytotoxicity to both cancer and healthy cells need to be addressed. Thus, production and invention of new anticancer drugs is essential to solve these problems. Therefore, the scientists around the globe focus on sea where it is believed as a source of many untapped natural resources wherein over 70% of the earth surface is covered. Large numbers of novel compounds isolated from diverse marine macro-and microorganisms have been reported to exert anticancer activity (Table 15.1). These compounds known to act by activation of P53 anti-proliferative gene, inducing apoptosis, affecting the tubulin-microtubule equilibrium, or inhibiting angiogenesis, where few mode of actions are described in this chapter (Vidanarachchi et al., 2010; Zheng et al., 2011).
15.1.1 Marine Anticancer Apoptosis-Inducing Compounds
