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Molecules Medicinal Chemistry Reviews, 2nd Edition

A Special Issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049) belonging to the section "Medicinal Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2027 | Viewed by 1272

Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Institute of Pharmacy, Center for Molecular Biosciences (CMBI), University of Innsbruck, Innrain 80-82, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Interests: opioid receptors; opioid pharmacology; pain research; CNS disorders; opioid drug discovery; structure–activity relationships; GPCRs signaling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China
Interests: anticancer agents; molecular chaperones; small molecules; protein–protein interaction; computer-aided drug design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, “Molecules Medicinal Chemistry Reviews, 2nd Edition”, aims to publish high-quality review articles that report the latest advances and challenges, and provide valuable perspectives in the field of medicinal chemistry. Medicinal chemistry continues to play a central role in drug discovery and development, bridging chemistry and biology to address urgent medical challenges and unmet therapeutic needs. Through this Special Issue, we aim to gather contributions from scientists that will inspire innovation and guide future research in medicinal chemistry. We welcome comprehensive review papers covering, but not limited to, advances in drug design and discovery, structure–activity relationships (SARs) and pharmacophore modeling, novel synthetic methodologies relevant to medicinal chemistry, emerging therapeutic targets and strategies, applications of computational chemistry and AI in drug development, pharmacokinetics, metabolism, and toxicity considerations.

Prof. Dr. Mariana Spetea
Prof. Dr. Lei Wang
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 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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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.

Keywords

  • drug discovery
  • drug design
  • computer-aided drug design
  • synthesis
  • pharmacophore
  • targets
  • structure-activity relationships
  • therapeutics

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

17 pages, 15966 KB  
Review
Survivin-Targeting Antisense Oligonucleotides in Cancer Therapy
by Bal Hari Poudel, Suxiang Chen and Rakesh N. Veedu
Molecules 2026, 31(13), 2283; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules31132283 - 30 Jun 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 834
Abstract
Survivin (BIRC5) is a key inhibitor of apoptosis that is highly overexpressed in many cancers, where it promotes tumour cell survival, mitotic progression, and resistance to therapy. Because survivin is largely absent from normal adult tissues, it represents a selective and promising target [...] Read more.
Survivin (BIRC5) is a key inhibitor of apoptosis that is highly overexpressed in many cancers, where it promotes tumour cell survival, mitotic progression, and resistance to therapy. Because survivin is largely absent from normal adult tissues, it represents a selective and promising target for cancer treatment. Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) provide a precise approach to silence survivin by targeting its transcripts. Preclinical studies have shown that ASO-mediated reduction of survivin is associated with increased cancer cell death, inhibition of tumour growth, and enhanced sensitivity to other treatments. Early-phase clinical trials of survivin-targeting ASOs have shown evidence of target engagement but ultimately failed to demonstrate consistent clinical benefit and/or encountered dose-limiting toxicities, which hindered their further development. This review outlines survivin’s central role in cancer biology, the principles of ASO therapeutics (sequence design, mechanisms of action, chemical modifications, and delivery strategies), and the progress in preclinical and clinical development of survivin-targeting ASOs, while also discussing key challenges that may contribute to their clinical limitations, including inefficient delivery, off-target effects, and systemic toxicities. Collectively, the current status of survivin-targeting ASOs underscores the need for synergistic optimization of delivery platforms and molecular chemistry to improve efficacy and safety, thereby enabling their use in personalised and combination cancer treatment approaches. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecules Medicinal Chemistry Reviews, 2nd Edition)
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