Natural Products from Marine Invertebrates and Microbes as Modulators of Antitumor Targets

Over the last twenty-five to thirty years, exploration of the marine fauna and microbial flora has progressed from a random search by natural product chemists who liked to dive and wished to combine their hobby with their profes- sion, to fully integrated programs of systemic investigation of the chemical agents elaborated by marine organisms of all phyla (as presumably defensive agents against predators) for their potential as leads to human-use drug candidates where the putative mechanisms have been identified as modulation of, and/or interaction with, potential molecular targets, rather than just exhibiting general cytotoxicity. This review is not exhaustive but is meant to cover the highlights of such agents and is arranged on a (nominal) target basis rather than by organism or chemical class.