Marine-derived angiogenesis inhibitors for cancer therapy

Angiogenesis inhibitors have been successfully used for cancer therapy in the clinic. Many marine-derived natural products and their analogues have been reported to show antiangiogenic activities. Compared with the drugs in the clinic, these agents display interesting characteristics, including diverse sources, unique chemical structures, special modes of action, and distinct activity and toxicity profiles. This review will first provide an overview of the current marine-derived angiogenesis inhibitors based on their primary targets and/or mechanisms of action. Then, the marine-derived antiangiogenic protein kinase inhibitors will be focused on. And finally, the clinical trials of the marine-derived antiangiogenic agents will be discussed, with special emphasis on their application potentials, problems and possible coping strategies in their future development as anticancer drugs.