Cancer Drug Could Be Prize Catch From Sea SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters Health) - Producing large quantities of a promising cancer drug candidate--first discovered 20 years ago in a marine organism--could one day be almost as simple as making beer if new research pans out. There are currently more than a dozen compounds from ocean creatures in clinical trials as cancer drugs or antibiotics. But even if they prove effective, several obstacles exist to producing such drugs on an industrial scale. For one, harvesting the organisms, which may be rare, can damage the environment. And the potential drugs are often found in very low levels in the organisms, making gathering them prohibitively expensive. Dr. Margo Haygood, an associate professor of marine biology at Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, and her colleagues are attempting to overcome such problems with bryostatins. These chemicals are found in Bugula neritina, invertebrates that live in colonies in temperate oceans around the world. Researchers believe that B. neritina "packages" its larvae--tiny clusters of cells that act as seeds for new colonies--with a dose of bryostatins to prevent predatory fish from eating them. Bryostatin 1, which Haygood calls the "flagship" marine drug product, is currently in clinical trials for several types of cancer. But producing the few grams of the chemical needed for the trials required several tons of B. neritina, the researcher noted. Haygood's team may have found a way around this problem. They are assembling evidence that the organism itself doesn't produce bryostatins. Instead, a bacterium living inside Bugula larvae--which they've dubbed Candidatus Endobugula sertula--may be the source. [05/22/2002; Reuters Health] Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.