Plant Polyphenols in the Immune and Inflammatory Responses

Dear Colleagues,

Inflammation and associated immune diseases have placed a heavy burden on the health care system. Drug treatment for reducing inflammation and related diseases has not been satisfactory. Complementary and alternative approaches need to be evaluated.

Plant extracts have historically been used as alternative medicines for the prevention, alleviation, and cure of various diseases. The mechanisms of how bioactive plant extracts work are poorly understood, due, in part, to the lack of knowledge of the structures of bioactive components in most extracts.

Plant polyphenols are major bioactive compounds in plant extracts. They are produced from the plant flavonoid biosynthetic pathway and used naturally for plant defenses against predators. Plant polyphenols are present in most diets and are beneficial to human health. They regulate mammalian gene expression in numerous studies. The anti-inflammatory activities of plant polyphenols are proposed to play an important role in the mediation of various health conditions by these alternative therapies; however, these anti-inflammatory mechanisms are not completely understood.

This Special Issue aims to highlight plant polyphenols in the immune and inflammatory response. Topics include plant polyphenol extraction, identification, bioactivity, structure-function relationship, molecular mechanisms at DNA, RNA, protein, and metabolic levels. We welcome comprehensive reviews and original research papers.

Dr. Heping Cao
Guest Editor

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