Antiproliferative effects of methanolic extracts of two marine sponges on pancreatic cancer cell line

Although the Mediterranean Sea covers approximately a 0.7% of the world’s ocean area, it represents a major reservoir of marine and coastal biodiversity. Among marine organisms, sponges (Porifera) are a key component of the deep-sea benthos, widely recognized as the dominant taxon in terms of species richness, spatial coverage, and biomass. Sponges represent the most studied marine organisms as sources of bioactive compounds. In fact, previous studies reported the bioactivity of different marine sponge extracts in several diseases and some extracts have been used to produce commercial anticancer drugs. In the present study we tested the biotechnological potential of two marine sponges, Oceanapia cf. perforata (Sarà, 1960 ); from Faro Lake in Sicily) and Agelas oroides (Schmidt, 1864); from Punta San Pancrazio in the Gulf of Naples). In our previous studies these two sponges were characterized by morphological analysis and amplification of several conserved molecular markers. Here we identified active fractions from both sponges able to block the proliferation of the human pancreatic cancer cell line (PaCa-2). Further bioassay-guided fractionation and chemical characterization will be performed, aiming to identify natural products from both sponges responsible of this activity.