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Marine Drugs
Special Issues
Novel Biomaterials and Active Compounds from Sea Cucumbers
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Novel Biomaterials and Active Compounds from Sea Cucumbers

A special issue of Marine Drugs (ISSN 1660-3397). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomaterials of Marine Origin".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 1875

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Miroslava Atanassova

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Møreforsking AS, Ålesund, Møre og Romsdal, Norway
Interests: biomaterials; sea cucumbers; protein; marine by-products
Dr. Jan Sunde

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Møreforsking AS, Ålesund, Møre og Romsdal, Norway
Interests: cryoprotectants; sea cucumbers; enzymes; multivariate statistics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is our great pleasure to introduce this Special Issue of Marine Drugs, entitled “Novel Biomaterials and Active Compounds from Sea Cucumbers”. Sea cucumber research has been increasing in the past decades, with a very wide body of scientific results already being accumulated on the functional composition of many tropical, as well as temperate, water species. A new FAO guide on the “Commercially Important Sea Cucumbers of the World” was published in 2023 with all the recent information regarding both tropical and temperate water species. However, sufficient genetic, translational and drug development information is still lacking for sea cucumbers, as is biomaterial-related research. In addition, most available biological and functional knowledge was derived from tropical sea cucumber species, while the temperate and cold-water species still require further attention.

Therefore, we cordially invite you to contribute to this Special Issue with your original research or comprehensive review articles covering the advances in sea cucumber biomaterials, these materials’ interactions with human cells, bioinformatics studies and the development of novel antimicrobial peptide drugs, antifreeze compounds or other bioactive compounds (including enzymes) of pharmaceutical and nutritional importance.

Dr. Miroslava Atanassova
Dr. Jan Sunde
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Marine Drugs is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • collagen
  • fucoidan
  • antimicrobial peptides
  • antifreeze compounds
  • bioinformatics for drug development
  • sea cucumbers

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 601 KiB  
Article
Cladolosides of Groups S and T: Triterpene Glycosides from the Sea Cucumber Cladolabes schmeltzii with Unique Sulfation; Human Breast Cancer Cytotoxicity and QSAR
by Alexandra S. Silchenko, Elena A. Zelepuga, Ekaterina A. Chingizova, Ekaterina S. Menchinskaya, Kseniya M. Tabakmakher, Anatoly I. Kalinovsky, Sergey A. Avilov, Roman S. Popov, Pavel S. Dmitrenok and Vladimir I. Kalinin
Mar. Drugs 2025, 23(7), 265; https://doi.org/10.3390/md23070265 - 25 Jun 2025
Viewed by 207
Abstract
Four new minor monosulfated triterpene penta- and hexaosides, cladolosides S (1), S1 (2), T (3), and T1 (4), were isolated from the Vietnamese sea cucumber Cladolabes schmeltzii (Sclerodactylidae, Dendrochirotida). The structures of the [...] Read more.
Four new minor monosulfated triterpene penta- and hexaosides, cladolosides S (1), S1 (2), T (3), and T1 (4), were isolated from the Vietnamese sea cucumber Cladolabes schmeltzii (Sclerodactylidae, Dendrochirotida). The structures of the compounds were established based on extensive analysis of 1D and 2D NMR spectra as well as HR-ESI-MS data. Cladodosides S (1), S1 (2) and T (3), T1 (4) are two pairs of dehydrogenated/hydrogenated compounds that share identical carbohydrate chains. The oligosaccharide chain of cladolosides of the group S is new for the sea cucumber glycosides due to the presence of xylose residue attached to C-4 Xyl1 in combination with a sulfate group at C-6 MeGlc4. The oligosaccharide moiety of cladolosides of the group T is unique because of the position of the sulfate group at C-3 of the terminal sugar residue instead of the 3-O-Me group. This suggests that the enzymatic processes of sulfation and O-methylation that occur during the biosynthesis of glycosides can compete with each other. This can presumably occur due to the high level of expression or activity of the enzymes that biosynthesize glycosides. The mosaicism of glycoside biosynthesis (time shifting or dropping out of some biosynthetic stages) may indicate a lack of compartmentalization inside the cells of organism producers, leading to a certain degree of randomness in enzymatic reactions; however, this also offers the advantage of providing chemical diversity of the glycosides. Analysis of the hemolytic activity of a series of 26 glycosides from C. schmeltzii revealed some patterns of structure–activity relationships: the presence or absence of 3-O-methyl groups has no significant impact, hexaosides, which are the final products of biosynthesis and predominant compounds of the glycosidic fraction of C. schmeltzii, are more active than their precursors, pentaosides, and the minor tetraosides, cladolosides of the group A, are weak membranolytics and therefore are not synthesized in large quantities. Two glycosides from C. schmeltzii, cladolosides D (18) and H1 (26), display selectivity of cytotoxic action toward triple-negative breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231, while remaining non-toxic in relation to normal mammary cells MCF-10A. Quantitative structure–activity relationships (QSAR) were calculated based on the correlational analysis of the physicochemical properties and structural features of the glycosides and their hemolytic and cytotoxic activities against healthy MCF-10A cells and cancer MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines. QSAR highlighted the complexity of the relationships as the cumulative effect of many minor contributions from individual descriptors can have a significant impact. Furthermore, many structural elements were found to have different effects on the activity of the glycosides against different cell lines. The opposing effects were especially pronounced in relation to hormone-dependent breast cancer cells MCF-7 and triple-negative MDA-MB-231 cells. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Biomaterials and Active Compounds from Sea Cucumbers)
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28 pages, 2112 KiB  
Article
Composition of Triterpene Glycosides of the Far Eastern Sea Cucumber Cucumaria conicospermium Levin et Stepanov; Structure Elucidation of Five Minor Conicospermiumosides A3-1, A3-2, A3-3, A7-1, and A7-2; Cytotoxicity of the Glycosides Against Human Breast Cancer Cell Lines; Structure–Activity Relationships
by Alexandra S. Silchenko, Ekaterina A. Chingizova, Ekaterina S. Menchinskaya, Elena A. Zelepuga, Anatoly I. Kalinovsky, Sergey A. Avilov, Kseniya M. Tabakmakher, Roman S. Popov, Pavel. S. Dmitrenok, Salim Sh. Dautov and Vladimir I. Kalinin
Mar. Drugs 2024, 22(12), 560; https://doi.org/10.3390/md22120560 - 16 Dec 2024
Viewed by 1247
Abstract
Five new non-holostane di- and trisulfated triterpene pentaosides, conicospermiumosides A3-1 (1), A3-2 (2), A3-3 (3), A7-1 (4), and A7-2 (5) were isolated from [...] Read more.
Five new non-holostane di- and trisulfated triterpene pentaosides, conicospermiumosides A3-1 (1), A3-2 (2), A3-3 (3), A7-1 (4), and A7-2 (5) were isolated from the Far Eastern sea cucumber Cucumaria conicospermium Levin et Stepanov (Cucumariidae, Dendrochirotida). Twelve known glycosides found earlier in other Cucumaria species were also obtained and identified. The structures of new compounds were established on the basis of extensive analysis of the 1D and 2D NMR spectra, as well as by the HR-ESI-MS data. The aglycones of 1–5 differed by side chains structures. Additionally, conicospermiumoside A7-1 (4) had a 9(11)-double bond in the aglycone, while the remaining glycosides contained a 7(8)-intranuclear double bond. Eight types of carbohydrate chains known earlier from the glycosides of the sea cucumbers of the Cucumaria genus were found as part of the glycosides of C. conicospermium. The set of sugar chains of the glycosides from C. conicospermium was similar to that from C. okhotensis. The raw biogenetic series of aglycones, leading to the formation of hexa-nor-lanostane derivatives in the process of biosynthesis and a sort of functionally-structural division that was realized due to separation of biosynthetic pathways of holostane and lanostane derivatives, can be traced when the structures of the glycosides isolated from C. conicospermium are compared. The cytotoxic action against three human breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7, T-47D, MDA-MB-231), and non-tumor MCF-10A and hemolytic activity of compounds 1–5, as well as seven known glycosides were tested. Conicospermiumosides A3-3 (3) and A7-1 (4), having a 22-oxo-23(24)-en fragment, were strongly hemolytic despite lacking a lactone in their aglycones. Moreover, both compounds demonstrated a promising suppressing action against triple negative breast cancer cells. The cells of the MDA-MB-231 line were most sensitive to the cytotoxic action of the glycosides, while the MCF-7 cell line was most sustainable. Six glycosides were selected for further study of some aspects of anticancer action against MDA-MB-231. The selective action of the compounds 4 and 8 on the MDA-MB-231 cells without significant toxicity against the MCF-10A cells was noticeable. More importantly, the selectivity of the compounds was changed over time and maximal selectivity to cancer cells was demonstrated by glycoside 1 at 48 h of exposition. The glycosides 1, 3 and the desulfated derivative 7a strongly inhibited colony formation and growth of the TNBC cells until the process stops completely. Okhotoside B1 (8), DS-okhotoside A1-1 (7a), and conicospermiumoside A3-3 (3) showed a potent cell migration-inhibiting capacity. Quantitative structure–activity relationships (QSARs) calculated on the basis of a correlational analysis of the physicochemical properties and structural features of the glycosides and their cytotoxic activity against different cell lines showed some structural features influenced differently, sometimes even in opposite ways, on the activity of glycosides toward diverse cells (erythrocytes, MCF-10A, and TNBC MDA-MB-231 cells). This observation indicated that glycosides obviously target different membrane components, such as lipids of erythrocytes and some receptors on the surface of mammary normal or tumor cells. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Biomaterials and Active Compounds from Sea Cucumbers)
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