Anticancer Potential of Marine Shellfish

This topic describes the anticancer metabolites of the components of marine shellfish such as crustaceasn (shrimp, lobsters, crayfish, and crabs), marine molluscs viz. bivalves (clams, oysters, etc), gastropods (snails, slugs, etc.) and cephalopods (squids, octopuses, and cuttlefish). Among the bioactive compounds of marine molluscs, the anti-proliferative and cytotoxic compounds accounted for 12 and 36%. Among echinoderms, the asteroids (starfish), echinoids (sea urchins) and holothuroids (sea cucumbers) are found to be pharmaceutically important. Among the bioactive metabolites of echinoderms, the cytotoxic or anti-proliferative metabolites accounted for 38%.