Bioactive Peptides from Sea Cucumbers and Sea Urchins: Therapeutic Roles and Mechanistic Insights

Marine organisms, especially those in the Echinozoa class like sea urchins and sea cucumbers, have received significant attention for their bioactive peptides that exhibit a wide range of therapeutic potential. This review presents recent research findings related to the extraction, identification, and bioactivity of such peptides. Antioxidant peptides from Echinozoa could protect against oxidative damage by reducing the levels of ROS and increasing the generation of antioxidant enzymes. This might be helpful for developing new therapeutic drugs to cure neuropathic pain. Peptides with anticancer properties isolated from species such as sea urchins have been observed to trigger apoptosis and suppress cancer cell growth through the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. Peptides that combat fatigue boost endurance by stimulating the NRF2 and AMPK pathways, enhancing energy metabolism and lowering fatigue indicators in animal studies. Antidiabetic peptides from sea cucumber regulate blood glucose through their influence on the IRS/Akt and AMPK pathways, enhancement of insulin responsiveness, and acceleration of wound healing in diabetic models. ACE-inhibitory peptides from sea cucumbers and sea urchins have also exhibited an antihypertensive activity by inhibiting the conversion of angiotensin I to angiotensin II. Due to their membranolytic mode of action, sea urchin-derived antimicrobial peptides-strongylocins and centrocins-express a wide range of activities against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Other sea cucumber peptides that improve memory can become an experimental therapy for the improvement of cognitive ability. Although these discoveries sound promising, the main barriers toward clinical use are problems of peptide stability, their bioavailability, and lack of efficient delivery. Addressing these difficulties is critical for increasing the therapeutic effectiveness of Echinozoa-derived peptides in both nutraceutical and pharmaceutical applications. © 2025, Walailak University. All rights reserved.