Phylum Porifera

Prepared by:
MARK D. CASABUENA
MILE - Biology

INTRODUC
TION
 The animal Phylum whose members
are sessile and either asymmetrical
and radially symmetrical; body
organized around a system of water
canals and chambers; cells not
organized into tissues or organs.
 Approximately 9,000 species.

INTRODUC
TION
 Most sponges are colonial and they
may vary in size form a few millimeters
to the great loggerhead sponges, which
may reach 2 meters or more across.
 Many sponges are brightly colored
because of pigments in the dermal cells.
Red, yellow, oranges, green, and purple.

Characteristics of Phylum
Porifera include:
 Multicellular; body a loose aggregation
of cells of mesenchymal origin.
 Asymmetrical or superficially radially
symmetrical
 Mostly marine; all aquatic.

 Epidermis of flat Pinacocytes, most
interior surfaces lined with flagellated
collar cells (choanocytes) that create
water currents, gelatinous protein
matrix called mesohyl (mesoglea)
contains amoebocytes of various
types and skeletal elements.
Porifera include:

Skeletal structure of fibrillar collagen (a
protein) and calcareous or siliceous
crystalline spicules, often cocmbined with
variously modified colagen (spongin).
 No organs or tissues; digestion
intracellular; excretiona and respiration by
diffusion.
Porifera include:

Porifera include:
 Reactions to stimuli apparently local
and independent; nervous system
probably absent.
 All adults are sessile and attached to
substratum.
 Asexual reproduction by buds or
gemmules and sexual reproduction by
eggs and sperm; free swimming
ciliated larvae.

(a) In the example, pinacocytes form the outer body
wall, and mesenchyme cells and spicules are in
the mesohyl. Porocytes that extend through the
body wall form ostia.
(b) Choanocytes are the cells with a flagellum
surrounded by a collar of microvilli that traps food
particles. Food moves toward the base of the cell,
where it is incorporated into a food vacuole and
pass to amoeboid mesenchyme cells, where
digestion takes place. Brown arrow shows the
direction of movement of trapped food particles.
Morphology of a Simple Sponge

(a) An ascon sponge. Choanocytes line the
spongocoel in ascon sponges.
(b) A sycon sponge. The body wall of sycon
sponges appears folded. Choanocytes line
radial canals that that open in the spongocoel.
(c) A leucon sponge. The proliferation of canals
and chambers results in the loss of the
spongocoel as a distinct chamber. Multiple
oscula are frequently present. Blue arrows
show the direction of the water flow.
SPONGE BODY FORMS

Asconoid: Flagellated Spongocels
SPONGE BODY FORMS
 The asconoid sponges have the simplest
type of organization. They are small and
tube shaped.
 Water enters through microscopic dermal
pore into a large cavity called the
spongocoel, which is lined with
choanocytes.

 The choanocyte flagella pull the water
through the pores and expel it through a
single large osculum.
 Leucosolenia is an asconoid type of
sponge . Its is slender, tubular individuals
grow in groups attached to a common
stolon., or stem, to objects in a shallow
seawater. Asconoid are found only in Class
Calcarea.
Asconoid: Flagellated Spongocels
SPONGE BODY FORMS

Asconoid: Flagellated
Spongocels

 Syconoid sponges look somewhat the
larger version of asconoids; from which
they derived.
 They have the tubular body and single
osculum, but the body wall which is thicker
and complex than that of asconoid,
contains choanocyte lined radial canals
that empty into spongocoel.
Syconoid: Flagellated Canals
SPONGE BODY FORMS

 The spongocoel in syconoids is lined with
epithelial-type cells rather than flagellated
cells as in asconoids.
 Water enters through a large number of of
dermal ostia into incurrent canals and then
filters through tiny openings called
prosopyles into the radial canals.
SPONGE BODY FORMS

 The food is ingested by choanocytes, whose
flagella force the water on through internal
pores (apopyles) into he spongocoel. From
there it emerges from the osculum.
 Syconoid do not usually form highly branched
colonies as the asconoids do. During
development, syconoid sponges pass through
and asconoid stage, the flagellated canals
form by the evangination of the body wall.
SPONGE BODY FORMS

 This is evidence that syconoid sponges
were derived from asconois ancestral
stock. Syconoids are found in classes
Calcarea and Hexactinellida.
 Syconoid is a commonly studied type of
sponge.
SPONGE BODY FORMS

Grantia ciliatum
Example of Syconoid Sponges
Scypha ciliata Spongia coronata

Leuconoid: Flagellated
Chambers Leuconoid organization is the most
complex of the sponge types and the best
adapted for increase in sponge size. Most
Leuconoid forms large colonial masses.
 Each member of the mass having its own
osculum, but individual members are
poorly defined and often impossible to
distinguish.
SPONGE BODY FORMS

Chambers Clusters of flagellated chambers are filled
with incurrent canals and discharge water
into excurrent canals that eventually lead
to the osculum.
 Most sponges are of Leuconoid type,
which occurs in Class Calcarea and other
classes.
SPONGE BODY FORMS

Chambers

Spongilla lacustris
Example of Leuconoid Sponges

Sponges have a cellular grade of
organization. They do not possess any
structures that can be considered
organs.
For instance, sponges do not have
stomachs or kidneys. Instead, sponge
cells of various types are responsible for
bodily functions, the day-to-day
activities that sustain life.
Many of the most common types of cells
are illustrated below in a cartoon view of
the wall of a poriferan.
STRUCTURAL ANATOMY
Specialized Cell
Types

 These cells are the "skin cells" of
sponges. They line the exterior of the
sponge body wall. They are thin, leathery
and tightly packed together.
Pinacocyte
s
Specialized Cell
Types

 These distinctive cells line the
interior body walls of sponges.
These cells have a central flagellum
that is surrounded by a collar of
microvilli.
It is their striking resemblance to
the single-celled protists
called choanoflagellates that
make many scientists believe that
choanoflagellates are the sister
group to the animals.
Specialized Cell
Types
Choanococytes

 Choanocytes are versatile cells.
Their flagella beat to create the
active pumping of water through
the sponge, while the collars of
the choanocytes are the primary
areas that nutrients are absorbed
into the sponge.
Specialized Cell
Types
Choanococytes

 Furthermore, in some sponges
the choanoflagellates develop
into gametes.
Specialized Cell
Types
Choanococytes

 Between the two layers is a thin
space called mesenchyme or
mesohyl. The mesenchyme
consists of a proteinaceous
matrix, some cells, and spicules.
Specialized Cell
Types
Mesenchyme

Some of the engulfed material may be
distributed to another type of cell called
an amoebocyte. The amoebocyte
assists in the digestive process and in
the distribution of nutrients to other cells
of the body.
Amoebocytes are also totipotent,
meaning that they can change into other
sponge cell types. In some species,
amoebocytes are able to become egg
or sperm cells for sexual reproduction.
Amoebocytes or Archeocytes
Specialized Cell
Types

 The secretion of spicules is carried
out by sclerocytes. Other cells,
called spongocytes, secrete the
spongin skeletat fibres when those
are present.
Sclerocytes
Specialized Cell
Types

 Poriferans do not have any muscle
cells, so their movement is rather
limited. However, some poriferan cells
can contract in a similar fashion as
muscle cells.
Myocytes and porocytes which
surround canal openings and pores
can contract to regulate flow through
the sponge.
Myocytes and Porocytes
Specialized Cell
Types

STRUCTURAL ANATOMY
Sponge Skeleton
Sponge skeletons are made up of
hard, rod-like projections called
spicules and a protein called
collagen.
Sponge classes are based on the
composition of the spicules. Spicules
made of calcium carbonate or silica
are secreted by cells called
sclerocytes.

STRUCTURAL ANATOMY
 Skeletal elements made of spongin are often
referred to as spongin fibers because they are
more flexible than calcium or silica spicules.
Spongin is a protein and it is secreted by cells
called spongocytes.
Although sponges have no muscle tissue and
are sessile organisms, they do have muscle-like
cells called myocytes. Myocytes surround canal
openings and porocytes. These cells are able to
contract in order to regulate water flow through
the body.

TYPES OF SPICULES
Megascleres are large spicules measuring from 60-
2000 µm and often function as the main support
elements in the skeleton.
 Acanthostyles are spiny styles.
 Anatriaenes, orthotriaenes and protriaenes are
triaenes-megascleres with one long and three short
rays.
Strongyles are megascleres with both ends blunt or
rounded.
Tornotes are megascleres with spear shaped ends.
Tylotes are megascleres with knobs on both ends.

TYPES OF SPICULES
Microscleres are small spicules
measuring from 10-60 µm and are
scattered throughout the tissue and are
not part of the main support element.
– Anisochelas are microscleres with
dissimilar ends.
– Chelae are microscleres with shovel-like
structures on the ends.
– Euasters are star-shaped microscleres
with multiple rays radiating from a
common centre.

– Forceps are microscleres bent back on
themselves.
– Isochelas are microscleres with two similar
ends.
– Microstrongyles are microscleres with both
ends blunt or rounded.
– Oxeas are microscleres with both ends
pointed.
– Oxyasters are star-shaped microscleres with
thin pointed rays.
– Sigmas are "C" or "S" shaped microscleres.
Spherasters are microscleres with multiple
rays radiating from a spherical centre
TYPES OF SPICULES

 All the life activities of the sponge
depends on the current of water flowing
through the body. A sponge pumps
remarkable amount of water.
 Leuconia, for example leuconoid sponge
about 10 cm tall and 1 cm in diameter. It is
estimated that water enters through some
81,000 incurrent canals at a velocity of 0.1
cm/second.
SPONGE PHYSIOLOGY

SPONGE PHYSIOLOGY
 However, Leuconia has more the 2 million
flagellated chambers whose combined diameter
is much greater than that of the canals, so that
in the chambers the water slows down to 0.001
cm/second, allowing ample opportunity for food
to capture by the collar cells.
Leuconia alaskensis

SPONGE PHYSIOLOGY
 All of the water expelled in a single osculum at
a velocity of 8.5 cm/second: a jet force capable
of carrying waste products some distance away
from the sponge. Some large sponges can filter
1500 liters of water a day.
 Sponges feed primarily on particles suspended
in the water pumped though their canal
systems. Detritus particles, planktonic
organisms organisms, and bacteria are
consumed nonselectively in the size range from
50 µm (average diameter of ostia).

SPONGE PHYSIOLOGY
 Digestion is entirely intracellular (occurs
within cells) and present evidence indicates
that this chore is performed by archeocytes.
 Particles taken in by the choanocytes are
passed on the archeocytes for digestion.
 There are no respiratory or excretory organs;
both functions are apparently carried out by
diffusion in individual cells. Contractile
vacuoles have found in archeocytes and
choanocytes of freshwater sponges.

HABITAT OF SEA SPONGES
Source: Comstock Images/Comstock/Getty Images

With 15,000 species in waters around
the world, sponges (phylum Porifera)
are a widespread, extremely primitive
animal species.
Because of their simple design these
creatures have been able to adapt to
a variety of habitats and conditions.
Nearly every type of water body is
populated by sponges.

Coral Reefs
The easiest place to find a sea sponge is on a
coral reef. Sponges are one of the most
common animals in these giant, self-contained
ecosystems.
These sponges are suspension feeders that eat
particles they filter out of ocean water. On the
reef, sponges easily get enough food because
they're surrounded by other life forms.
These sponges make the water cleaner and
healthier for their cohabitants by filtering out
detritus. Examples of common reef sponges
include the fan sponge

 Examples of common reef sponges include
the fan sponge (Phyllospongia lamellosa), the
azure vase sponge (Callyspongia plicifera) and
the tube sponge (Callyspongia vaginalis).
Phyllospongia lamellosa Callyspongia plicifera Callyspongia vaginalis

Midrange Marine
Sponges
 You can find sponges just about
anywhere in the sea if there are
structural surfaces. Whether they
spread carpetlike across rocks or
blossom in elaborate shapes from
spicules anchoring them to underwater
structures, sponges have found ways
to eke out a comfortable existence in
the more expansive ocean areas.

 The waters surrounding hydrothermic
vents are often popular with animals
such as sponges because of the vents'
warmth and water flow.
Hydrothermic vents are 3,000 to 7,000
feet below the surface. Sometimes,
very large sponge species develop in
these areas where more room is
available but food is still abundant.
Midrange Marine
Sponges

An example is the barrel sponge (Xestospongia
muta), roughly the same shape and size as a
barrel and often big enough to hold a person.
Xestospongia muta

Deep Sea
Sponges Sponges can even thrive in the
deepest, darkest parts of the
ocean. Porifera have been found
living up to 25,000 feet beneath
the ocean's surface. Fewer
animals can withstand the harsh
conditions at the bottom of the
sea, so food is often scarce

Deep Sea
Sponges To overcome this hardship some
sponges have developed the ability to
catch their food rather than relying on
filtration feeding.
These carnivorous sponges snare
small animals at the current pushes
past the sticky hooks on their branched
arms. Then they envelop their prey in a
mucus for digestion.

Deep Sea
Sponges The harp sponge (Chondrocladia lyra) and
the ping-pong tree sponge
(Chondrocladia lampadiglobus)
are examples of carnivorous sponges.
Chondrocladia lyra Chondrocladia lampadiglobu

Freshwater Sponges
 Sponges are found in both
marine and freshwater habitats.
More than 200 species live in
freshwater environments.
Freshwater sponges are found
throughout the world and at nearly
every latitude.

Freshwater Sponges
Sponges have evolved to live in just
about any form a body of water can
take.
Rivers, lakes, streams, springs,
marshes, swamps, caves, temporary
bodies of water -- somewhere in the
world, all of these are homes to
freshwater sponges.

Freshwater Sponges
 Freshwater sponges are extremely durable
creatures, able to withstand just about any
situation such as drought, chemical pollution, and
fluctuations in water flow, pH, temperature, and
hardness.
Spongilla lacustris, the most common
freshwater sponge, is widely abundant in North
America, Europe and Asia.

Freshwater Sponges
 The Ogulin cave sponge (Eunapius
subterraneus) is the only known species of
subterranean freshwater sponge. It lives only in
the Ogulin caverns in Croatia.

Sponges are important because of their roles
in recycling nutrients and the part they play in
the coral reef life cycle. For instance, sponges
break down complex organic material into
food for other things living on the coral reefs.
 Scientists believe they may be important
factors to changes in water quality, whether
good or bad. Scientists analyze how fast
sponges breathe and the amount of nitrogen
they release while doing so.
ECOLOGICAL ROLES OF SPONGES

 Scientists believe they may be important
factors to changes in water quality, whether
good or bad. Scientists analyze how fast
sponges breathe and the amount of nitrogen
they release while doing so.
 Sponges collect bacteria when they filter the
water around them. These bacteria are
believed to be able to do many things.

 First, these bacteria may be able to create
forms of nitrogen from the nitrogen gas in the
water that may be nutritional for the sponge.
They may also be able to turn ammonium
from the sponge’s breathing into nitrogen gas
that is then released into the atmosphere.

 This process would lower excess nitrogen
levels in coral reefs, also preventing
harmful ecosystem changes.
Scientists believe that the conversion of
nitrogen gas into useful nitrogen is also
beneficial to the survival of other
organisms in the area.
They are hoping to have discovered a
pathway for the removal of excess
nitrogen from coral reefs.

 Most sponges are monocious (both sexes
occur in the same individual) but do not
usually self-fertilized because individual
sponges produce eggs and sperm at
different times.
 Certain choanocytes loss their collars and
flagella and undergo meiosis to form
flagellated sperm. Other choanocytes (and
amoeboid cells in sponges) probably
undergo meiosis to form eggs.
REPRODUCTION OF SPONGES
Sexual Reproduction

 Sperm and eggs are released in sponge
oscula. Fertilization occurs in the ocean
water, and planktonic larvae are develop.
 in a few sponges, eggs are retained in
the mesohyl of the parent. Sperm cell exit
one sponge through the osculum and
enter another sponge with incurrent
water. Sperm are trapped by choanocytes
and incorporated by the vacuole.

 In some sponges, early development occurs in
mesohyl. Cleavage of a zygote results in the
formation of a flagellated larval stage. ( A larva
is an immature stage that undergo a dramatic
change in structure before attaining the adult
body form.)
 The larva breaks free and water currents carry
the larva out of the parent sponge. After no more
than two days of a free-swimming existence, the
larva settles to the substrate and begins to
develop the adult body form. (figure 9.8)

DEVELOPMENT OF SPONGE
LARVAL STAGES

Figure 9.8 – Development of Sponge
Larval Stages.
(a) Most sponges have a parenchymula larva
(0.2mm). Flagellated cells cover most of the
larva’s outer surface. After the larva settles
and attaches, the outer cells lose their
flagella, move to the interior, and formed
choanocytes. Interior cells move to the
periphery and form pinacocytes.
LARVAL STAGES

LARVAL STAGES
(b) Some sponges have amphiblastula larva
(0.2 mm), which is hollow and has half of
the larva composed of flagellated cells. On
settling, the flagellated cells invaginate
into the interior of the embryo and form
choanocytes. Nonflagellated cells
overgrow to choanocytes and form the
choanocytes.

LARVAL STAGES
(c) Gemmules (0.9mm) are resistant capsules
containing masses of amoeboid cells.
Gemmules are released when a parent
sponge dies (e.g. in the winter), and
amoeboid cells form a new sponge when
favorable conditions return.

LARVAL STAGES
Asexual Reproduction
 Asexual reproduction of freshwater and some
marine sponges involves the formation of
resistant capsule, called gemmules,
containing masses of amoeboid cells.
 When the parent sponge dies in the winter, it
releases gemmules, which can sur4vive both
freezing and drying. When favorable
conditions return in the spring, amoeboid
cells stream out of a tiny opening called
micropyle, and organize into a sponge.

 Sponges have tremendous ability to repair
injuries and to restore lost parts, a process
called regeneration. Regeneration does not
imply entire reorganization of the entire animal,
but only of the wounded portion.
 On the other hand, if a sponge is cut into small
fragments, or if the cells of a sponge are
entirely disassociated and are allowed to fall
into small groups, an aggregates, entire new
sponges can develop from this fragments or
aggregates of cells. This process has been
termed somatic embryogenesis.
REGENERATION AND SOMATIC
EMBRYOGENESIS

REGENERATION AND SOMATIC
EMBRYOGENESIS
 Somatic embryogenesis involves a
complete reorganization of the structure
and functions of the participating cells or
bits of tissue. Isolated from the influence of
adjoining cells, they can realize their own
potential to change in shape or function as
they develop into a new organism.

 Sponges in this class are typified by skeletal
spicules composed of calcium carbonate.
The spicules often protrude through the
epipinecodermal covering of the body wall,
giving the organism a rough texture.
 Calcareous sponges are small, usually only
a few inches high, and are generally dull in
appearance, although several species are
brightly colored.
CLASSIFICATION OF SPONGES
Class Calcarea

Class Calcarea
 Members of this class are among the
simplest sponges, and all three
morphological types—asconoid,
syconoid, and leuconoid—are
represented.
There are approximately 150 known
species, exclusively marine and shallow-
water dwellers.

Class Calcarea
Leucosolenia blanca Grantia compressa

Class Hexactinellida
(Glass Sponges)
 These are deep-sea sponges. They lack an
epidermal covering, and their skeletons are
composed of spicules of silica. The spicules,
which often form a latticework, have six
points or some multiple thereof.
Glass sponges are pale in color and are cup-
or basket-shaped. The spongocoel is large,
and the osculum is covered by a grillwork of
fused spicules.

Class Hexactinellida
(Glass Sponges)
 When the living tissue is removed, the
cylindrical skeletons often have the
appearance of spun glass. The glass sponge
known as Venus's-flower-basket
(Euplectella ) supplies a home for certain
shrimps that become trapped by the lattice
of spicules. The body plan of Hexactinellida
is between syconoid and leuconoid.

Euplectella aspergillum
Class
Hexactinellida
(Glass Sponges)
Euplectella timorensis

 Most sponges belong in this class. It
includes sponges with a skeleton made up
of silicon-containing spicules or spongin
fibers or both. In the latter case, the spongin
provides a matrix in which the spicules are
embedded.
 The Demospongiae vary in size from small,
encrusting forms to very large, irregular
masses. All are leuconoid; many are brightly
colored.
Class Demospongiae

Class Demospongiae
 The freshwater sponges (family
Spongillidae) belong to this class; they are
frequently green because of symbiotic
algae that live in the amoebocytes.
The fibrous sponges also belong to this
class; they include the common bath
sponges, Hippospongia
communis and Spongia officinalis, and
most of the other sponges used
commercially.

Class Demospongiae
 The boring sponges (family Clionidae) are
extremely interesting because of their ability
to bore into calcareous rocks and mollusk
shells. They begin their boring as larvae and
spend their lives in the tunnels they form.
 Sulfur sponges ( Cliona species) are bright
yellow boring forms inhabiting shallow
waters on the east and west coasts of the
United States.

Hippospongia communis
Class Demospongiae

Class Demospongiae
Spongia officinalis

Class Demospongiae
Cliona aethiopicus

From Sea Sponge to HIV Medicine
Tectitethya crypta (formerly known
as Cryptotheca crypta) is a large, shallow-water
sponge found in the Caribbean. It was first
studied for medical purposes in the 1950s when
few scientists or doctors thought to look for
medicines in the ocean.
But in the sponge, scientists isolated two
chemicals—aptly named spongothymidine and
spongouridine—which were used as models for
the development of a number of anti-viral and
anti-cancer drugs.
USEFULNESS OF SPONGES

 These include the HIV drug
AZT, a breakthrough in AIDS
treatment in the late 1980s,
anti-viral drugs to treat
herpes, and an anti-
leukemia drug. The latter
was approved in 1969 and
was the first marine-drug
approved for cancer
treatment.
From Sea Sponge to HIV Medicine
http://ocean.si.edu/ocean-
photos/sea-sponge-hiv-medicine

Sea Sponge Drug Boosts Breast Cancer Survival?
 A certain drug developed from sea
sponges could possibly boost
breast cancer survival in women,
according to a new study.
 Researchers led by Professor Chris
Twelves, based at the University of
Leeds and Leeds Teaching
Hospitals NHS Trust, looked at
1,800 women with breast cancer
that had started to metastasize, or
spread, to other parts of the body.
They found that when treating
patients with the cancer drug
eribulin, specifically those with
advanced triple negative breast
cancer, they lived on average an
extra five months.
By Jenna Lacurci
Nov 03, 2014 08:22 PM

"Despite advances in the diagnosis and
treatment of women with breast cancer, more
than 11,600 women still die from invasive
breast cancer each year in the UK. New and
better treatments are needed for people
fighting the disease," study author, Professor
Chris Twelves said in a statement.
And Twelves and colleagues hope that eribulin
could be the drug that can make a difference.
Eribulin, which was originally developed from
a sea sponge called Halichondria okadai,
works by stopping the cancer cells from
separating into two new cells.

Cancer that metastasizes to other organs accounts
for a whopping 90 percent of all cancer deaths. And
for those with breast cancer, if diagnosed when the
disease has already starting making its way to
other parts of the body, 10-year survival is around
one in 10. That's compared to nearly nine in 10 for
those diagnosed at the earliest stage.
"These results are encouraging and may offer
valuable extra time to patients whose cancers have
stopped responding to conventional treatments
and have few options left," explained Martin
Ledwick, head information nurse at Cancer
Research UK.

"Advanced breast cancer can be very difficult
to treat so these results take us a small,
important step in the right direction."
"Although eribulin isn't a cure," he added, "it's
an extra treatment option for patients with
advanced breast cancer, which can be priceless
to them and their families."
The results were presented at the 2014 National
Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer
Conference in Liverpool and the study's abstract
can be found here.

Study Abstract
Efficacy of eribulin in patients
with metastatic breast cancer
(MBC): a pooled analysis by
HER2 and ER status
Chris Twelves1, Javier Cortes2, Linda Vahdat3, Martin
Olivo4, Yi He4, Peter A Kaufman5, Ahmad Awada6,
1Leeds Institute of Cancer and Pathology and St James's
Institute of Oncology, Leeds, UK,2Vall d'Hebron University
Hospital, Barcelona, Spain,3Weill Cornell Medical College,
New York, USA,4Eisai Inc., Woodcliff Lake, USA,5Norris
Cotton Cancer Center and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical
Center, Lebanon, USA,6Medical Oncology Clinic, Institut
Jules Bordet, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels,
Belgium,

Background
Eribulin has been assessed in two phase 3,
open-label trials in patients with locally
recurrent or MBC progressing after an
anthracycline and taxane. Eribulin
significantly increased overall survival (OS)
compared with treatment of physician's
choice (TPC) in one study and showed a non-
significant trend for improved OS vs
capecitabine in the other. We present an
unplanned pooled analysis of these data.

Method
 In the EMBRACE trial, women had received 2–5 lines of
chemotherapy for advanced disease. In this ?3rd line
setting, patients were randomized 2:1 to eribulin
mesylate (1.4mg/m2 iv on days 1 and 8 every 21 days) or
TPC. In study 301, patients who had received 0–2 prior
chemotherapies for advanced disease were randomized
1:1 to eribulin (as above) or capecitabine (1.25
g/m2 orally b.i.d. days 1–14 every 21 days). We analysed
OS (based on survival curve adjusted by study) by 2-
sided stratified log-rank tests and Cox regression in the
overall intent-to-treat population and in the HER2–, triple
negative (TNBC) and HER2+ subgroups. Between-
treatment analyses were stratified by region, prior
capecitabine use and study (plus HER2 status [overall
group] and TNBC [HER2– group]).

Results
1864 patients (median age 54yrs) were included,
most had been treated in the 2nd (31.5%) or 3rd line
(32.7%) MBC settings. Eribulin provided
significantly improved OS vs control overall (15.2
vs 12.8 months, HR=0.85, 95%CI=0.77,0.95,
p=0.003), and in HER2– (15.2 vs 12.3 months,
HR=0.82, 95%CI=0.72,0.93, p=0.002) and TNBC
(12.9 vs 8.2 months, HR=0.74, 95%CI=0.60,0.92,
p=0.006) patients, but not HER2+ patients (13.5 vs
12.2 months, HR=0.82, 95%CI=0.62,1.06, p=0.135).
As reported before, the eribulin safety profile was
similar in the studies.

Conclusion
Eribulin significantly improved OS vs
standard therapies in MBC patients with
HER2– and TNBC; in patients with HER2+
disease the difference did not reach
statistical significance but numbers were
smaller.
Source:
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/10043/201411
03/sea-sponge-drug-boosts-breast-cancer-survival.htm

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