University of South Florida (USF) researchers have discovered that bacterial toxins from Antarctic sea squirts could effectively treat melanoma.
The finding follows a six-week expedition to Antarctica, as reported by The Guardian.
The scientific team collected samples of ascidians, marine invertebrates known as sea squirts, by diving up to 130 feet deep in icy Antarctic waters.
Laboratory testing prior to the expedition showed that these bacterial toxins eliminated melanoma cells in mice models.
Promising Results in Mice
"The good news is it didn't kill the mice," said Brian Baker, professor of chemistry at USF.
"It did kill their cancer, so we know it has the physiological properties to act like a drug."
Baker noted that the development pathway for a human-approved anti-melanoma drug involves a lengthy succession of regulated clinical trials.
However, the latest field data has enhanced understanding of the ecological relationship between the microorganism and its host bacterium.
"Things we learn from these field studies are going to help us advance this when we start doing those animal models, and human models," Baker said.
The research team now needs to find a way to synthetically reproduce the toxin in a laboratory to avoid harming the Antarctic ecosystem.
"You need hundreds of milligrams to grams of this metabolite, and from a basketball size collection of ascidians we might get one-thousandth of that," Baker explained.
Because harvesting large quantities from the wild is ecologically unsustainable, laboratory synthesis remains a primary objective.
"Obviously we cannot collect 1,000 basketball quantities from the Antarctic, that would destroy the ecology," Baker said.
Baker, who began his career in marine biology and chemistry in 1990, emphasized that many pharmaceuticals originate from natural organisms.
"More than half of FDA-approved drugs originate from natural sources," he said.
The professor described the melanoma findings as a major milestone.
"Killing cancer cells in a petri dish is one thing, but going beyond that is much harder," he said.
"Now we've got to make the next hurdle."
The expedition, funded by the National Science Foundation, required navigating severe environmental hazards.
"In Antarctica, you're dealing with ice, leopard seals, changing seas and sometimes very limited visibility," said Ben Meister, a USF professor and diving safety officer.
Meister emphasized that extensive safety protocols were mandatory for every underwater deployment.
"Every dive must be carefully planned to balance getting the work done while keeping everyone safe," he said.
Ongoing development of the toxins will proceed through collaborative laboratory partnerships involving the Desert Research Institute and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
