Exploration of Drug Science

Special Issue Topic

Remedial benefits of natural products in inflammation and cancer

Submission Deadline: May 31, 2024

Guest Editors

Noah Isakov E-Mail

Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel

Research Keywords: cancer immunobiology; T cell activation; signal transduction; protooncogenes; adaptor proteins; kinase; phosphatase; isomerase

Ruby John Anto E-Mail

Molecular Bioassay Laboratory, Institute of Advanced Virology, Thiruvananthapuram, India

Research Keywords: bioprospecting for anticancer molecules; chemosensitization; chemoprevention; carcinogenesis; chemotherapeutics

About the Special Issue

The utilization of natural products as remedies for the treatment of a wide range of diseases has been practiced since ancient times. The earliest indication of human use of natural products was found in the cuneiform writing on clay tablets, dating to circa 2600 B.C, illustrating that people from the Near East region of Mesopotamia had been making use of the health benefits of oil extracts from plants such as Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) and Myrrh (Commiphora), to relieve conditions like cough and inflammation. Interestingly, these extracts are still being used today as remedies for these illnesses. Over the past few decades, tremendous effort has gone into isolating and characterizing novel natural compounds from plants, animals, and other living organisms. Ethno pharmacological studies and more recent usage of cutting-edge molecular technologies, have led to the discovery of numerous active natural compounds and structurally related analogues. Some of these compounds are currently being used as effective medications for the treatment of distinct types of cancers as well as inflammatory and infectious diseases.
This Special Issue on Remedial benefits of natural products in inflammation and cancer is devoted to in-depth research on natural products, descriptions of their biological effects, evaluation of their therapeutic properties, and investigation of their mechanisms of action.
Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:
Discovery, identification, and characterization of natural products
Technological advances in the discovery of drugs derived from natural products
Pharmacological models in the study of natural products
The therapeutic benefits of natural products and their derivatives
Effect of natural products on immune functions and anti-cancer responses
Both original research papers and review manuscripts are welcome.

Keywords: natural products; plant extract; bioactive compound; remedies; drug discovery; cancer; inflammation

Call for Papers

Published Articles

Open Access

Perspective

Plants and fungi metabolites as novel autophagy inducers and senescence inhibitors
Premature aging can be partially explained by inefficient autophagy (the process of cellular self-digestion that recycles intracellular components) and premature senescence (cease of cellular divisi [...] Read more.

Premature aging can be partially explained by inefficient autophagy (the process of cellular self-digestion that recycles intracellular components) and premature senescence (cease of cellular division without cell death activation). Autophagy and senescence are among the basic biochemical pathways in plants and fungi suggesting that some of their metabolites have the potential to act as autophagy inducers (AI) and senescence inhibitors (SI) and to inhibit inflammation and human aging. Several compounds have already been identified: trehalose and resveratrol are natural compounds that act as AI; flavonoids found in fruit and vegetables (curcumin, quercetin, and fisetin) are among the first SI discovered so far. New AI/SI can be identified using various approaches like hypothesis-driven approach for screening receptor agonists using an in-silico library of thousands of natural compounds; cheminformatics studies of phytochemicals using docking and molecular dynamics simulation, structure similarities/mimicry in vitro, “blind” high throughput screening (HTS) of libraries of natural metabolites against relevant models, and more. This article aims to promote the use of plant and fungi novel resources to identify bioactive molecules relevant for healthy aging based on the knowledge that plants and fungi use autophagy and senescence mechanisms for their own survival and homeostasis. As autophagy and senescence are interconnected, how drugs targeting autophagy, senescence, or both could contribute to healthy aging in humans will be speculated.

Rivka Ofir

Published: July 01, 2024 Explor Drug Sci. 2024;2:361–368
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/eds.2024.00051

Full Text

PDF

View:29

Download:3

Times Cited: 0

Premature aging can be partially explained by inefficient autophagy (the process of cellular self-digestion that recycles intracellular components) and premature senescence (cease of cellular division without cell death activation). Autophagy and senescence are among the basic biochemical pathways in plants and fungi suggesting that some of their metabolites have the potential to act as autophagy inducers (AI) and senescence inhibitors (SI) and to inhibit inflammation and human aging. Several compounds have already been identified: trehalose and resveratrol are natural compounds that act as AI; flavonoids found in fruit and vegetables (curcumin, quercetin, and fisetin) are among the first SI discovered so far. New AI/SI can be identified using various approaches like hypothesis-driven approach for screening receptor agonists using an in-silico library of thousands of natural compounds; cheminformatics studies of phytochemicals using docking and molecular dynamics simulation, structure similarities/mimicry in vitro, “blind” high throughput screening (HTS) of libraries of natural metabolites against relevant models, and more. This article aims to promote the use of plant and fungi novel resources to identify bioactive molecules relevant for healthy aging based on the knowledge that plants and fungi use autophagy and senescence mechanisms for their own survival and homeostasis. As autophagy and senescence are interconnected, how drugs targeting autophagy, senescence, or both could contribute to healthy aging in humans will be speculated.

Guest Editors

About the Special Issue

Call for Papers

Published Articles