 Cancer.
A word that strikes fear into the hearts of people everywhere. Almost every one of us has been touched by it, through a loved one, a friend, or personal experience. With rising pollution, unhealthy diets, and overexposure to an unfiltered sun, rates of cancer and other serious illnesses are climbing fast. Now imagine this: an almost limitless source of potential cures hidden in the depths of the ocean, waiting to be discovered, studied, and used to heal. But before we even get close, the organisms producing these lifesaving compounds are being wiped out, in the name of profit for a small and powerful elite. If deep-sea mining goes ahead as planned by certain companies and governments, we stand to lose an untapped treasure trove of bioactive compounds. For over 50 years, studies have shown that deep-sea life, including fungi, sea squirts, jellyfish, algae, sea urchins, and sponges, contains molecules with powerful medical potential. Antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antidiabetic: the list of biological activities found in these organisms is long and promising. Diseases like tuberculosis, once thought to be under control, are resurging. Deep-sea fungi have shown significant inhibitory effects on TB and have even demonstrated properties that combat leukemia cells. And this is just the beginning. Developing medicines from deep-sea organisms is neither quick nor cheap. It can take decades and hundreds of millions of dollars. Researchers working on treatments for Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, and other complex illnesses often do so with limited resources and minimal support from big pharma. So far, 17 approved medicines on the global market have been developed from marine genetic resources, with 40 more in clinical trials. That is likely just scratching the surface. Cancer, in particular, is a complex and multifaceted disease. Rather than targeting a single protein, researchers are now exploring network-based treatments, systems that disrupt entire molecular pathways. Deep-sea-derived compounds fit well into this approach, offering more integrated ways to treat cancer. Unlike current drugs that target a single gene or protein, often with limited success, these compounds can help disrupt the disease process more broadly. The ocean is still largely unexplored. It may host as many as 2 million undiscovered species, many of which live in deep-sea environments, including hydrothermal vents and sediments that are directly targeted by deep-sea mining. These are the very places where breakthrough medicines could be found. So we face a choice. Do we destroy habitats we barely understand to extract metals that may not even be essential for the green energy transition? Or do we protect the deep and invest in the possibility that the next cure for cancer is waiting there? Hundreds of scientists and researchers have sounded the alarm. Deep-sea mining threatens to halt vital medical research, including the fight against antibiotic-resistant superbugs that cause thousands of deaths every year. Research expeditions are now racing against time, trying to discover life-saving compounds before their habitats are destroyed forever. Many argue that the deep sea has far more to offer humanity through medicine and knowledge than through mineral extraction. And they are right. The International Seabed Authority, the body responsible for managing these areas, has a legal mandate to ensure seabed resources are used “for the benefit of mankind.” And what greater benefit could there be than curing cancer? References- Krajick, K. (2013, November 17). Medicine from the Sea. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/medicine-from-the-sea-99586066/ Macnamara, K. (2023, March 3). Drugs from the deep: scientists explore ocean frontiers. PHYS.ORG. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-drugs-deep-scientists-explore-ocean.html#google_vignette Marchese, P., Young, R., O’Connell, E., Afoullouss, S., Baker, B. J., Allcock, A. L., ... & Murphy, J. M. (2021). Deep-sea coral garden invertebrates and their associated fungi are genetic resources for chronic disease drug discovery. Marine drugs, 19(7), 390. McVeigh, K. (2022, October 19). Scientists fear impact of deep-sea mining on search for new medicines. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/20/scientists-fear-impact-of-deep-sea-mining-on-search-for-new-medicines NOAA Ocean Explorer: Deep Sea Medicines 2003. (n.d.). https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/03bio/welcome.html Russo, P., Del Bufalo, A., & Fini, M. (2015). Deep sea as a source of novel-anticancer drugs: Update on discovery and preclinical/clinical evaluation in a systems medicine perspective. EXCLI journal, 14, 228. Saide, A., Lauritano, C., & Ianora, A. (2021). A treasure of bioactive compounds from the deep sea. Biomedicines, 9(11), 1556. Comments are closed.
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