Sponges may help research

Press, 23 November 1988, Page 2

Sponges may help research

By

YVONNE MULDER

at Scott Base The “chemical warfare” practised by sponges living on Antarctic reefs may provide some help in the fight against cancer and virus infections in humans. The sponges and other bottom-dwelling organisms use highly toxic chemicals to fight off potential enemies, says a marine biologist from the University of Canterbury, Dr Chris Battershill. “Sponges can engage in a type of chemical warfare as a mode of defence. To stop something growing on top of them or settling down to cover them they need to kill the invading species or individual.” The chemicals they produce are diluted by sea water so they have to be very strong and very specific, he said. “In our tests we find a lot of these chemicals have strong antiviral activity, often not affecting healthy cells,” said Dr Battershill. At the moment there was no drug which was able to cure viral infection in humans, and the mechanism by which the sponges killed off viruses was still unknown. A group from the chemistry department of the University of Canterbury led by Drs Murray Munro and John Blunt has been studying sponges for about six years, and Dr Battershill has brought a team of divers to Antarctica for the last two seasons, as part of the New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme. Last season, the group found that very few of the sponges in the waters around Scott Base produced chemicals that showed biological activity. They suspect it is because the reef is extremely stable over time and 1 the sponges have had relatively little competition.