Nowadays, the mangrove biome is considered to be a profound resource of natural products usually possessing cytotoxicity of a broader range. Covering the period 2007-2015, a total of 21 new naturally occurring compounds has stood out. For example, xylogranin B and swietephragmin C were found to exhibit very potent cytotoxic activity against the colon HCT-116 cells reaching IC50 values of 0.05 and 0.06 μM, respectively. Bearing in mind the efficacy of the majority compounds in the preliminary in vitro screens, these studies should be expanded to both ex vivo and in vivo screens including the evaluation of the relevant toxicological profiles.
Keywords: Mangroves; cancer; organic compounds.