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Anticancer, Antioxidant, and Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Natural Products

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pharmacology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 May 2025 | Viewed by 339

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
REQUIMTE/LAQV, Laboratory of Bromatology and Hydrology, Department of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Interests: food chemistry; chromatography; green chemistry; sustainability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
LAQV/REQUIMTE, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Rua Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 280, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal
Interests: bioactive compounds; obesity; diabetes

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Guest Editor
LAQV/REQUIMTE, Department of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Interests: cancer; glucose; glutamine transport; polyphenols; obesity; type 2 diabetes; microbiota

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Natural products have emerged as valuable sources of bioactive compounds, demonstrating significant potential in improving health and preventing diseases.

This Special Issue invites submissions that explore the diverse roles of natural products, particularly their abilities to combat oxidative stress, modulate inflammatory pathways, and exhibit anticancer and antitumoral effects.

We welcome original research and comprehensive review articles exploring recent advances in how plant extracts, medicinal herbs, foods, by-products, and other naturally derived products can provide alternative and complementary therapeutic approaches.

Studies on the bioactivity of these compounds—especially those examining their impact on cellular mechanisms in vitro and in vivo models—are particularly encouraged, as they offer essential insights into the preventive and therapeutic potential of natural products.

Dr. Rita Carneiro Alves
Dr. Nelson Andrade
Dr. Cláudia Silva
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • bioactive compounds
  • natural extracts
  • health promotion/disease prevention
  • oxidative stress modulation
  • inflammatory pathway regulation
  • anticancer and antitumoral effects
  • cellular mechanisms
  • in vitro and in vivo bioactivity studies

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

22 pages, 8061 KiB  
Article
Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Quercetagetin Derivatives as the Inhibitors of Mcl-1 and Bcl-2 Against Leukemia
by Kang Li, Xiaomei Ge, Wei Liu, Lei Huang, Xinye Lv, Yuhui Tang, Zhehao He, Yingxue Yang, Miaofen Chen, Jianguo Zeng and Pi Cheng
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2025, 26(6), 2727; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26062727 - 18 Mar 2025
Viewed by 184
Abstract
B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) family proteins are fundamental regulators of intrinsic cell apoptosis, and overexpression of apoptotic proteins (Bcl-2 and Mcl-1) is a characteristic of many haematological malignancies. Thus, it is necessary to discover novel inhibitors to treat leukemia. In the current study, we [...] Read more.
B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) family proteins are fundamental regulators of intrinsic cell apoptosis, and overexpression of apoptotic proteins (Bcl-2 and Mcl-1) is a characteristic of many haematological malignancies. Thus, it is necessary to discover novel inhibitors to treat leukemia. In the current study, we synthesized a series of quercetagetin derivatives (compounds 2a2t, 3a3j and 4a4g) and evaluated their anticancer activities on four leukemia cells (U937, K562, K562R and KG-1). Among those synthesized derivatives, compounds 2a exhibited the best antiproliferative activity (IC50 = 0.276, 0.159, 0.312 and 0.271 µM to U937, K562, K562R and KG-1, respectively). In addition, 2a induced apoptosis in K562 and markedly arrested the cell cycle G2/M phase of K562. The Western blot assay showed that 2a is a potential inhibitor that can effectively suppress the expression of Bcl-2 and Mcl-1. The molecular docking study predicted that 2a had firm interactions with the active pockets of Bcl-2 and Mcl-1. Finally, in silico pharmacokinetic evaluation of 2a indicated its potential as an anti-leukemia drug lead in the future. Full article
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