Abstract
CONTEXT: Glioma, the most common primary malignant brain tumour, is a grave health concern associated with high morbidity and mortality. Current treatments, while effective to some extent, are often hindered by factors such as the blood-brain barrier and tumour microenvironment. This underscores the pressing need for exploring new pharmacologically active anti-glioma compounds. METHODS: This review synthesizes information from major databases, including Chemical Abstracts, Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Abstracts, ScienceDirect, SciFinder, Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed, Springer Link and relevant books. Publications were selected without date restrictions, using terms such as 'Hymenocrater spp.,' 'phytochemical,' 'pharmacological,' 'extract,' 'essential oil' and 'traditional uses.' General web searches using Google and Yahoo were also performed. Articles related to agriculture, ecology, synthetic work or published in languages other than English or Chinese were excluded. RESULTS: The marine environment has been identified as a rich source of diverse natural products with potent antitumour properties. CONCLUSIONS: This paper not only provides a comprehensive review of marine-derived compounds but also unveils their potential in treating glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) based on functional classifications. It encapsulates the latest research progress on the regulatory biological functions and mechanisms of these marine substances in GBM, offering invaluable insights for the development of new glioma treatments.