Indole alkaloid marine natural products: An established source of cancer drug leads with considerable promise for the control of parasitic, neurological and other diseases

The marine environment produces natural products from a variety of structural classes exhibiting activity against numerous disease targets. Historically marine natural products have largely been explored as anticancer agents. The indole alkaloids are a class of marine natural products that show unique promise in the development of new drug leads. This report reviews the literature on indole alkaloids of marine origin and also highlights our own research. Specific biological activities of indole alkaloids presented here include: cytotoxicity, antiviral, antiparasitic, antiinflammatory, serotonin antagonism, Ca-releasing, calmodulin antagonism, and other pharmacological activities. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.