Connection of Marine Natural Products and Cell Apoptosis 2022

Dear Colleagues,

Programmed cell death (apoptosis) is a natural physiological process of cell death. Apoptosis performs major functions in the embryonic development process, homeostasis, and wound healing processes. However, the changes in cancer cells’ genomes tend to protect cancer cells from apoptosis and produce a favorable environment for proliferation. Therefore, compounds capable of inducing apoptosis in cancer cells have been identified as potential therapeutics for treating cancer. However, due to the adverse effects of synthetic drugs, much attention has been given to the development of anticancer drugs from natural sources, due to there being fewer side effects of natural compounds compared to synthetic drugs. Recent studies on compounds and crude extracts from marine organisms have shown promising anticancer properties, including apoptosis.

However, most of these marine-based bioactive natural compounds do not currently exist on the market, at least as functional products, due to a lack of research regarding their basic signaling mechanisms. In addition, a lack of communication between the scientific community and the general public also limits the further utilization of anticancer compounds isolated from marine organisms. Therefore, as researchers it is our duty to further explore these signal mechanisms and disseminate our gathered knowledge to increase the utilization of the precious gifts given to us by nature. In this Special Issue of Marine Drugs, you are invited to submit recent advances in the identification and characterization of apoptosis compounds from marine organisms. We also welcome research on functional product development from marine organisms, clinical studies, and trials focused on treating cancer diseases.

Dr. K. K. Asanka Sanjeewa
Dr. Thilina U. Jayawardena
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.

• marine natural products
• apoptosis
• cell cycle
• angiogenesis
• antioxidants