Discovering new anti-cancer drugs from extremophilic microorganisms
Miguel Pérez Rodríguez
Bio Knowledge Lab S.L., Córdoba, Spain
DOI: https://doi.org/10.35466/RA2021n6404
Keywords: Drug Discovery; Bioprospecting; Microorganisms; Extremophiles; Antitumor Agents
Abstract
Bio Knowledge Lab (hereinafter BKL) is a young company from Cordoba in the biotechnology and bioinformatics sector specialized in the implementation of massive sequencing projects and computer analysis of biological data. Its objective is to support research groups and companies that work in areas related to life sciences, biotechnology, biomedicine or biopharmaceuticals. In addition, in parallel, BKL also develops its own lines of research. Among them, the project “Bioprospecting of extreme environments of the Andalusian Atlantic coast for the isolation of new bioactive compounds with antitumor activity”, a public-private project carried out in collaboration with the Universities of Huelva and Granada, and aimed to search for new compounds from extremophilic microorganisms.
This project can be framed within the area of Drug Discovery, a process by which new drug candidates are discovered. This constitutes the initial stage of the entire development of a drug, a process that is long and expensive, mainly due to the low ratio of drug candidates that can finally be brought to market. For this reason, there are many attempts to innovate in the drug discovery process, for example, through new approaches or using new technologies. Here, omics and computational approaches, as well as the use of new sources of resources, could provide the innovation that this process needs to overcome the public health challenges it faces. In this line, these are the approaches proposed by BKL and its collaborators, all of them integrated into a novel bioprospecting project.
The project "Bioprospecting of extreme environments of the Andalusian Atlantic coast for the isolation of new bioactive compounds with antitumor activity" aims to study the microbiodiversity of extreme environments and identify microorganisms of interest, carry out isolations of new microbial species, especially microalgae and archaea, and obtain from them functional extracts rich in bioactive components to evaluate their antioxidant and antitumor capacity. In this first stage of the process, the studied locations have been points of interest of Marismas del Odiel, the Riotinto Mines and the phospho-gypsum pools, all of them in the province of Huelva and characterized by hosting extreme environments, either due to their high salinity, due to its high content of heavy metals and / or its radioactivity. In our project, the microbial, eukaryotic and prokaryotic populations of these environments have been characterized. In addition, two haloarchaeas and four microalgae have been isolated and functional extracts have been obtained, and their antioxidant and antitumor potential has been evaluated, the latter in colorectal cancer models.