Aquatic Organisms as Disease Models, Sources of Therapeutics, and Pollution Markers
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pathology, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2022) | Viewed by 12029
Special Issue Editors
Interests: embryo development; cell cycle; gene regulation; cancer; stem cells; gonads; genetic diseases
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: macrophages; actin cytoskeleton; RhoA pathway; chronic rejection; transplantation; germ cells; stem cells; Xenopus laevis; development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Aquatic organisms are an irreplaceable source of medicinal drugs and therapeutics, a perfect model system and indicator for many human diseases, and often also a source of remedy for environmental pollutants. To mention a few examples: for several decades the African-clawed frog Xenopus laevis has been used for human pregnancy tests. Between the 1940s and 1960s, thousands of frogs were imported to the USA by pharmaceutical companies and injected with pregnant women’s urine. Xenopus frogs are the perfect human ciliary-based model for kidney disease, and the Xenopus sex reversal is an excellent indicator of water contamination with endocrine disruptors that mimic human sex hormones and are present in the majority of cosmetics and everyday products. Zebrafish and squid eyes are a model for human ocular diseases, such as glaucoma, cataracts, photoreceptor degeneration, and cornea and retina disorders. The Atlantic horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) blue blood has been the source of Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) used to test bacterial contamination of vaccines and medical equipment. Over the past 30 years, scientists have identified over 20,000 new biochemical compounds from aquatic organisms, and dozens have been tested in clinical trials. Cytarabine and Vidarabine, isolated from the Caribbean sponges, are used for the treatment of leukemia and lymphoma, and systematic herpes virus infection, respectively. Ziconotide, a powerful analgesic drug, was isolated from the cone snail and Trabectedin (Yondelis); a marine alkaloid, isolated from the tunicate, is used for the treatment of advanced soft-tissue sarcoma and ovarian cancer. GoJelly, a European Union project, investigates the properties of the jellyfish, including its mucus, which can be used as a biofilter to adsorb and remove micro and nano plastics from the water.
For this Special Issue, we invite research and review articles on the recent progress in aquatic organisms as a source of medication, models for human diseases, markers of environmental pollutants, and, finally, as a source of anti-pollutant compounds.
Prof. Dr. Jacek Z Kubiak
Prof. Dr. Malgorzata Kloc
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- aquatic organism
- human disease model
- environmental pollutants
- novel drugs
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