Natural compound from a deep-water marine sponge found to reduce pancreatic tumor size

(Florida Atlantic University) A deep-water marine sponge collected off of Fort Lauderdale's coast contains leiodermatolide, a natural product that has the ability to inhibit the growth of cancer cells as well as block cancer cells from dividing using extremely low concentrations of the compound. Sea sponges are an ancient group of animals that appeared more than 600 million years ago that have many of the same genes as humans.