The find was reported after an expedition that ended Oct. 24 and culminated almost 20 years of exploration.
Scientists probing the area in 1984 found a small piece of sponge that harbored a chemical with cancer-fighting properties, but they were unable to find enough of the sponge to fully explore its potential.
A team led by Dr. Amy Wright, director of Harbor Branch Biomedical Marine Research, put together a profile of the sponge's habitat and found it on the first dive during an expedition to the Bahamas.
The sponge, about the size of a softball, was found in water more than 1,000 feet deep in an area researchers often refer to as the "dead zone," because it is generally characterized by bare rock and very low wildlife diversity. Researchers in the past have favored areas with more diverse habitats.
"Since 1984, it has been on our target list for every dive," Wright said. "This is our next cure. I know it's our next cure."
A chemical produced by the sponge, which has not yet been given an official name, proved in one test to be about 400 times more potent than Taxol, a widely used treatment for breast and other forms of cancer, according to Harbor Branch scientists. Preliminary experiments have also shown the compound to be fairly non-toxic to normal cells.
If the chemical continues to show promise, it would eventually be licensed to a pharmaceutical company. The full process of turning the chemical into a commercially available cancer treatment could take more than a decade, researchers said.
Harbor Branch scientists have evaluated other compounds that have shown cancer-fighting properties, said Jan Petrie, spokesman for the institution.
The most promising prospect so far has been the compound discodermolide, extracted from a sea sponge, which is licensed to Novartis and is undergoing clinical trials, he said.
By Jerry Shaw, Scripps.com
