Squalamine: a polyvalent drug of the future?

Curr Cancer Drug Targets. 2005 Jun;5(4):267-72. doi: 10.2174/1568009054064642.

Abstract

The purpose of this mini-review is to summarize and highlight the different advances in our understanding of the antimicrobial and antiangiogenic activity of squalamine, a cationic steroid isolated in 1993 from the dogfish shark Squalus Acanthias. Indeed, squalamine has shown to be useful for the treatment of important diseases such as cancers (lung, ovarian, brain and others), age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and the control of body weight in man. All these results led to a question: could we consider squalamine as a polyvalent drug of the future?

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cholestanols / chemical synthesis
  • Cholestanols / pharmacology
  • Cholestanols / therapeutic use
  • Drug Therapy / trends*
  • Humans
  • Technology, Pharmaceutical / trends

Substances

  • Cholestanols
  • squalamine