natural products; marine sponge; sesterterpenoid; steroid; colorectal cancer; Wnt; β-catenin; Alaska

The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway is known to play critical roles in a wide range of cellular processes: cell proliferation, differentiation, migration and embryonic development. Importantly, dysregulation of this pathway is tightly associated with pathogenesis in most human cancers. Therefore, the Wnt/β-catenin pathway has emerged as a promising target in anticancer drug screening programs. In the present study, we have isolated three previously unreported metabolites from an undescribed sponge, a species of Monanchora (Order Poecilosclerida, Family Crambidae), closely related to the northeastern Pacific species Monanchora pulchra, collected from deep waters off the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.