Translational Research in Microbial Healthcare Products with Special Reference to Anticancer Drug Discovery from Actinobacteria

Cancer continues to affect millions of people worldwide despite significant breakthroughs in the understanding, prevention, and treatment of cancer. Chemotherapy is generally assumed as the youngest method of cancer treatment. Although several molecules of plants and marine origin had made an important contribution to anticancer drug development, members of the phylum Actinobacteria notably the genus Streptomyces remain top in terms of producing clinically viable anticancer drugs. Actinomycins D and Doxorubicin are the two important actinobacterial derived anticancer drugs in clinical practice for several decades. Some of the actinobacterial derived drugs in clinical trials are Marizomib (NPI-0052, Salinosporamide), Sirolimus (Rapamycin derivative), and Obatoclax (Prodiginin family derivative). To meet the challenges of drug resistance and side effects associated with the currently available anticancer drugs, researchers at the global level are searching actinobacteria from different sources for the isolation of novel anticancer molecules. Interestingly actinobacteria from rare ecosystems like the deep sea, desert, caves, plants, and marine organisms are found to produce novel and potential anticancer molecules. Some of the molecules from such sources also reached the different stages of the clinical trial. Findings of some recent studies revealed that the actinobacterial synthesized nanoparticles are effective against various cancer cell lines. In this chapter, we have described the contributions of actinobacteria in anticancer drug development and the current status of anticancer compounds from actinobacteria from rare actinobacteria and their molecular mechanism of action.