Marine algae: natural product source for gastrointestinal cancer treatment

Among marine organisms, marine algae are rich sources of structurally diverse bioactive compounds with various biological activities. In order to survive in a highly competitive environment, freshwater or marine algae have to develop defense strategies that result in a tremendous diversity of compounds from different metabolic pathways. Recently, their importance as a source of novel bioactive substances is growing rapidly and many reports have been published about isolated compounds from algae with biological activities. Many researchers reported anticancer activity of the compounds isolated from marine algae. Gastrointestinal tract cancer is one of the most frequent death causes of cancer in men and women. Especially stomach cancer and colon cancer are the second and third common cancer type in the world after lung cancer. Hence investigation of bioactive compounds against gastrointestinal cancer cells has recently become an important field for researchers.