ABSTRACT
All marine organisms have been proved to be a veritable cornucopia of unusual steroid metabolites, but some believe that marine sponges may provide the most diverse and biogenetically unprecedented array of unconventional steroids in the entire animal kingdom. These steroids are potent inhibitors of histamine release, are anti-inflammatory agents, immunosuppressants, antineoplastic agents, and antiviral agents. However, their full therapeutic potential remains to be delineated.
