A research team led by scientists from the University of São Paulo (USP) in São Carlos, Brazil, identified a number of biologically active compounds in a sea sponge collected on Fernando de Naronha, an archipelago about 400 km off the coast of the northeastern region of Brazil. . Some of the substances have been shown to be able to destroy bacteria that are resistant to currently available antibiotics, which opens the way to the development of new drugs.
The research was supported by FAPESP and is reported in an article published in Natural Products Magazine.
“This sea sponge was previously studied by groups outside of Brazil, mainly in the 1990s. We used next-generation methods to analyze substances from its secondary metabolism, search for new molecules and test its biological activity. We were able to describe a number of new compounds. The main identified potential was vs drug-resistant bacteria “, said Vitor Freire, who conducted the study as part of his doctoral research at the Institute of Chemistry of San Carlos (IQSC-USP).
The World Health Organization (WHO) considers antibiotic resistance to be a major global public health problem. According to a report commissioned by the UK government and published in 2016, the number of deaths from drug-resistant infections will reach 10 million a year by 2050. Hence the importance of discovering new effective antibiotics.
The sea sponge analyzed in the study is Agelas dispar, a species native to the Caribbean and parts of the Brazilian coast. Sea sponges are among the oldest organisms on Earth and spend their lives attached to reefs or the seabed. Over millions of years of evolution, they have developed a complex metabolism, producing substances necessary to compete with other invertebrates and to avoid infection by pathogenic bacteria.
The substances with the greatest therapeutic potential identified in the study were three different types of ageliferin, named after marine sponges of the genus Agelas.
“Another important factor is the ability of sponges to harbor symbiont microorganisms that also help them defend themselves. When we analyze compounds found in sponges, we don’t always know what was produced by them and what came from the symbionts,” said Roberto Berlinck. , IQSC-USP professor and principal investigator of the study.
Tumors and bacteria
Thirteen compounds were tested on an ovarian cancer cell line known as OVCAR3, but were not found to be biologically active. Other research groups that tested ageliferins on lung, colon and breast cancer cells found no antitumor activity, and one had no effect on lymphoma cells. However, the three ageliferins killed drug-resistant bacteria Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis, which are extremely common and occur in various environments, as well as in Human body; and Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, listed by WHO as priority targets for new antibiotics and among the bacteria responsible for most hospital-acquired infections.
The researchers wanted to know if the use of these ageliferins could lead to the destruction of red blood cells (hemolysis) in the gut, a potentially fatal side effect often seen in patients undergoing chemotherapy who need antibiotics. In mouse cells, the compounds did not cause this type of damage, suggesting promising potential for drug development.
The next step is to analyze other marine sponges using the same methodology. “Finding out how these substances are made is very important because they span multiple classes of sponges and could help treat disease in the future,” said Freire, currently a postdoctoral fellow at the US National Cancer Institute.
A sea sponge tool could hold the key to discovering new cancer drugs
Additional information:
Vítor F. Freire et al., Discovery of bromopyrrole alkaloids from the marine sponge Agelas dispar based on molecular network features, Natural Products Magazine (2022). DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.2c00094
Citation: New compounds found in marine sponge may kill drug-resistant bacteria (2022, July 13) Retrieved July 13, 2022, from https://phys.org/news/2022-07-compounds-marine-sponge- drug-resistant-bacteria. html
This document is subject to copyright. Except in good faith for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without written permission. The content is provided for informational purposes only.