Corals

Abstract

Almost 50% of cytotoxic compounds are isolated from marine organisms such as sponges and corals. Symbiotic corals, mainly soft corals, are potential sources of many unique metabolites including cytotoxic and anticancer compounds. This review focuses on secondary biochemicals with potential biomedical properties extracted from both soft and hard coral species. The coral-derived compounds and extracts, for which biological activities have been reported, are discussed in this review, which covers the years from 1975 to late 2012. For distinction, members of each coral family, and the relevant genera and species have been surveyed separately. A total of 244 compounds (excluding crude extracts) have been introduced from 15 and 6 families each with 139 and 16 species of soft and hard corals, respectively. The majority of introduced compounds are promising as potential cancer therapeutics.