Natural Products in Health and Disease: Mechanisms, Therapeutic Applications, and Emerging Challenges

Dear Colleagues,

Natural products, rooted in traditional medicine, are being integrated with modern science to offer new therapeutic strategies for chronic and intractable diseases. Moving beyond their empirical use in the past, elucidating the multi-component-multi-target action mechanisms of natural products and establishing scientific evidence have now emerged as critical challenges. Recent studies, in particular, have revealed that when administered orally, natural products influence systemic health by interacting with the gut microbiota through various pathways, such as the gut-brain, gut-liver and gut-heart axes. This deepens our understanding of their complex and sophisticated therapeutic potential.

Natural products have been shown to improve various diseases, including neurological disorders, metabolic syndrome, and chronic liver disease, by restoring the balance of the gut microbiota, strengthening barrier function and regulating inflammation and oxidative stress. These findings suggest that natural products could serve as innovative therapeutic strategies that address the fundamental causes of disease in multiple ways, going beyond mere symptom relief.

This Special Issue, ‘Natural Products in Health and Disease: Mechanisms, Therapeutic Applications, and Emerging Challenges,’ aims to explore the scientific value of natural products based on these latest research trends. We welcome innovative research that clarifies the therapeutic mechanisms of natural products, enhances their clinical applicability and ensures their safety.

We are particularly seeking original manuscripts related to the following topics:

1. Studies establishing preclinical evidence for natural products against target diseases using innovative in vivo, in vitro and ex vivo models
2. Research that precisely analyzes the action targets and pathways of natural products using diverse bioinformatics technologies, with subsequent experimental validation
3. Studies comparing the safety and efficacy of natural product-derived crude extracts versus their key active components
4. Research applying network toxicology techniques to predict toxicity and experimentally evaluate proposed mitigation strategies
5. Studies demonstrating the superiority of natural products over synthetic single-component-single-target drugs for specific indications, both in efficacy and mechanism
6. Research exploring the advantages of natural products' inherent multi-target regulatory actions in biological systems

* Please note: All manuscripts must include experimental validation conducted in a wet lab. 

We anticipate that this Special Issue will broaden the horizons of natural products research and serve as a key platform for academic exchange, ultimately contributing to the advancement of human health.

Prof. Dr. Hee-Geun Jo
Guest Editor

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Current Issues in Molecular Biology 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 2200 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.