Anticancer compounds from the sea

Marine molluscs are a potential source of new anticancer drugs and other medicines, according to Dr Kirsten Benkendorff of Southern Cross University.

Dr Benkendorff is the winner of the Australian Academy of Science’s 2011 Dorothy Hill Award for young female researchers in the Earth sciences, including reef science, ocean drilling, marine science and taxonomy.

As part of their defence against marine pathogens, molluscs produce small bioactive molecules that Dr Benkendorff has found to have potential for development as antiviral, antibacterial and anticancer medicines.

“I have been investigating anticancer extracts from the Australian whelk for potential development as a novel alternative medicine,” she said.

“These extracts show selective activity against a wide range of solid tumours and lymphoma cell lines, but have minimal toxicity to normal healthy human cells.” Dr Benkendorff’s team has tested the extract in a rodent model for the prevention of colon cancer and found that the extract appears to be effective in preventing tumour formation.

“Further preclinical trials are currently underway to investigate the efficacy and safety of the purified compounds in longer term prevention models as well as a treatment,” she said.

“It will be more than six years before a new product could be commercialised from these molluscs, because after passing through preclinical trials, we would have to obtain regulatory approvals to undertake preliminary clinical trials in humans.” Her work is also shining a light on mass marine deaths, which could have implications for the Australian seafood industry.

Environmental stress like increased water temperature impacts the immune system of molluscs like oysters and abalone, making them more vulnerable to disease and death.

“This can be used to explain mass mortality events, which are currently a major impediment to the productivity of molluscs in fisheries and aquaculture in Australia,” said Dr Benkendorff.

She presented her work at the Shine Dome in Canberra as part of the Academy’s annual Science at the Shine Dome conference. Details of the program and all speakers’ abstracts are at: www.science.org.au/SATS2011/.