Effects of Secondary Plant Metabolites on Human Health

A special issue of Metabolites (ISSN 2218-1989). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Metabolism".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 October 2025 | Viewed by 677

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Medical and Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Trieda SNP 1, 040 11 Kosice, Slovakia
Interests: secondary plant metabolites; polyphenols; antioxidants; public health

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Guest Editor
Department of Medical and Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Trieda SNP 1, 040 11 Kosice, Slovakia
Interests: women's health; cancer; obesity; diet

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plant species must synthesize many chemical compounds—phytochemicals—to ensure survival. Most of these compounds are classified as secondary plant metabolites. The synthesis of phytochemicals is highly dependent on the growth conditions of plant species. Consequently, nature provides us with an enormous number of chemical compounds with significant structural variety. Since its beginnings, humanity has used medicinal plants whose positive effects are due to the presence of some secondary metabolites. There is a tradition of obtaining antitumor compounds from plant species, such as taxol from Taxus brevifolia or vinca alkaloids from Catharanthus roseus, or anti-inflammatory and antioxidative compounds such as flavones from Heterotheca inuloides. As it is known that anti-inflammatory processes are intricately linked to the onset of tumor processes, studying plant-derived compounds to better understand their functions and mechanisms of action is essential, representing an exciting area of research with a wide range of applications. Your research in this area has the potential to significantly impact human health, and we invite you to publish your latest findings in this Special Issue dedicated to secondary plant metabolites related to human health.

Dr. Beáta Čižmárová
Dr. Anna Birková
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • human health
  • inflammation
  • cancer
  • obesity
  • antioxidants
  • phytochemicals
  • phytoestrogens
  • secondary metabolites
  • natural products

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 1716 KB  
Article
Flavonoids and Sesquiterpene Lactones from Lychnophora ericoides (Arnica-Do-Cerrado) and Their In Vitro Effects on Multiple Myeloma and Acute Myeloid Leukemia
by Calisto Moreno Cardenas, Ren Ove Kratzert, Sofie Hanifle, Elida Cleyse Gomes da Mata Kanzaki, Isamu Kanzaki, Brigitte Kircher and Serhat Sezai Çiçek
Metabolites 2025, 15(8), 542; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo15080542 - 9 Aug 2025
Viewed by 430
Abstract
Objectives: Multiple myeloma and acute myeloid leukemia are severe forms of blood cancer, which lack effective therapies for treatment. In our search for new chemical lead structures from nature, we were investigating the Brazilian medicinal plant arnica-do-cerrado (Lychnophora ericoides). Methods: Repeated [...] Read more.
Objectives: Multiple myeloma and acute myeloid leukemia are severe forms of blood cancer, which lack effective therapies for treatment. In our search for new chemical lead structures from nature, we were investigating the Brazilian medicinal plant arnica-do-cerrado (Lychnophora ericoides). Methods: Repeated chromatography led to the isolation of four flavonoids and three sesquiterpenoids, which were evaluated for their cytostatic and cytotoxic properties against HL-60, MOLM-13, AMO-1, and KMS-12 PE cancer cells as well as the non-malignant HS-5 cell line. Results: Whereas the isolated flavonoids displayed only moderate activity, the three sesquiterpene lactones goyazensolide, centratherin, and lychnopholide exhibited pronounced effects against all four tested cell lines. Goyazensolide was the most effective compound, inhibiting proliferation and metabolic activity with IC50 values between 1.0 and 1.6 µM, as well as 1.0 to 2.0 µM, respectively. Centratherin and lychnopholide were somewhat less active but showed higher selectivity towards malignant cell lines, which was most pronounced for MOLM-13 cells. Conclusion: The results of this study revealed interesting natural products that will be further evaluated for their potential as new lead compounds for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia and multiple myeloma. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effects of Secondary Plant Metabolites on Human Health)
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