Marine Immunomodulatory Compounds

Dear Colleagues,

The last decade has included significant successes in understanding how the human immune system can be manipulated to fight cancer. In this context, the cells of the innate immune system, namely those specialized in antigen presentation and phagocytosis, have been recognized as active players in immunotherapy. The activation of dendritic cells, macrphages and microglia is the result of the binding of signal molecules to a Pattern Recognition Receptor (PRRs) and other immune receptors. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are one of the best characterized families of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) and play a critical role in the host defense to infection. However, a new class of receptors with immunomodulatory activity are involved in the activation and survival of myeloid cells, whose endogenous ligands and mechanisms of action are still poorly investigated. Among these, C-type lectin and immunoglobulin-like receptors play an important role in the innate immunity regulation.

In this field, the potential anticancer and immunological activity of natural products represent an excellent and unexplored source for the development of new drugs. Marine natural products are a unique rich source of new metabolites, with diverse chemical structures and molecular features adapted to specific interactions with cellular targets.

This Special Issue will cover all fields of research and development of marine natural products in chemical immunology. The volume includes studies on in vitro and/or in vivo activity on receptors of the innate immune system, isolation and structure characterization of natural immunomdoulators, mechanisms of action, therapeutic applications, and synthetic approaches for the preparation of active compounds and functional analogues.

Prof. Dr. Angelo Fontana
Dr. Carmela Gallo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Marine Drugs is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• chemical immunology
• marine natural product
• immunomodulation
• innate immune receptor
• bioactive compound
• immunotherapy
• natural products bioassay
• isolation
• structure elucidation
• organic synthesis