Drugs from Marine Sources: Modulation of TRAIL Induced Apoptosis in Cancer Cells

Abstract

There have been overwhelming advances in molecular oncology and data obtained through high-throughputtechnologies have started to shed light on wide ranging molecular mechanisms that underpin cancer progression.Increasingly it is being realized that marine micro-organisms and the biodiversity of plankton are rich sourcesof various anticancer compounds. Marine derived compounds play major roles in inducing apoptosis in cancercells. More importantly, various agents have been noted to enhance TRAIL induced apoptosis in cancer cellsby functionalizing intrinsic and extrinsic pathways. In this commentary, a list of marine derived compoundsreported to induce apoptosis is discussed.