Marine enzymes and their potential for therapeutic application: a review

The marine environment hosts a wide variety of species that have evolved to live in harsh and challenging conditions. Marine organisms have been attracting increasing attention as a source of new enzymes. Recently, there has been increasing attention to their unique properties and potential applications in marine-derived enzymes, especially in biomedicine. Marine-organism-derived enzymes offer advantages such as being environmentally friendly, effective, and compatible with living organisms. This makes them a promising option for various medical applications, and their use is expected to grow. Several challenges impede the large-scale application of marine-derived enzymes. Key issues include high production and purification costs, the potential for immunogenicity in therapeutic settings, limited availability of cultivable marine microorganisms, and difficulties in maintaining enzyme stability during storage and transport. These significant constraints must be addressed to ensure the successful commercialization of these enzymes. Thus, this review focuses on the research and development of marine-derived enzymes' anticancer, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and thrombolytic activities. It also discusses current developments in this field and future perspectives. The aim is to assess the therapeutic potential of marine enzymes and explore opportunities for improving existing ones and developing new ones to address current economic and technical limitations and challenges in this area.