Nov. 3, 2003 — After almost 20 years of searching, marine biologists have rediscovered a small, mysterious sponge that may contain a powerful cancer cure.

The unnamed sponge was rediscovered in the waters off the Bahamas by scientists at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Florida.

"We're really excited," said Amy Wright, director of Harbor Branch Biomedical Marine Research. The 1984 tests with limited amounts of the sponge revealed that it contained an unknown compound with 400 times the cancer killing potency of the drug Taxol®, which is widely used to treat breast cancer and other cancers.

Since 1984, however, only inadequate tiny bits of the sponges have been found. "That's when we got stuck," said Wright of the 1980s. "We didn't have enough."

Last year, dive cruises with Harbor Branch's submersibles brought home two slightly larger pieces of the sponge — enough for marine biologists to start piecing together a rough idea of the undersea habitat the sponge preferred. With that in mind, an exploration cruise that concluded on Oct. 24 was able to go straight to the right sort of places and, violá, come back with the long-lost mystery sponges, Wright explained.

The sponge is unnamed because scientists have not yet successfully classified it, Wright said. It was found at an unusual depth that requires submersible vehicles to reach. Because of the sensitivity of the discovery and the rarity of the sponges, no pictures could be released and Wright could only describe them as "small and round."

Despite the exciting potential of the mystery sponge, marine pharmaceutical researchers caution people to keep in mind that it's still very early in the game.

"What you are doing at first is looking for a molecule that kills cancer cells effectively at very low concentrations," explained Bill Fenical of Scripps Oceanographic Institution's Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine at the University of California, San Diego. Of those molecules, he said, only about one percent of the molecules succeeds.

Next the molecule has to be identified and tested more thoroughly to be certain it is not toxic to other parts of human or other animal bodies, Fenical explained. It takes years of work — but it's well worth it. "Without this kind of discovery, there would be nothing," he added.

Source