Abstract

Seaweed, coral, and sponges are examples of sessile creatures that constantly adapt to the biotic and abiotic elements of the ecosystem. To maintain an ecological niche suited for life, this incredibly intricate and dynamic process frequently leads to various types of competition. As a defensive strategy against the outside environment, a large proportion of marine animals have acquired the ability to produce physiologically active compounds known as secondary metabolites. These organic compounds and their derivatives may have epigenome and disease-related epigenetic machinery modulatory effects. By facilitating the creation of complex chemical compounds with potential therapeutic ramifications, epigenetic alterations also serve as a type of environmental adaptation and give marine animals a competitive edge. By controlling important transcriptional factors associated with cancer's hallmarks through carefully orchestrated molecular mechanisms, bioactive compounds are able to interfere with epigenetic targets. These molecular interactions also create signalling interactions of the tumour microenvironment that are essential to cancer phenotypes. As epigenetic modulators, secondary metabolites originating from marine species and their synthetic derivatives are currently understudied. In this review, we emphasize their benefits and drawbacks as well as possible improvements to cancer therapy.

Keywords: Biomarkers; Cancer therapy; Secondary metabolites