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Role of Natural Products in Inflammation

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural Products Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 2507

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Guest Editor
Centre of Experimental Medicine, Institute of Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská Cesta 5826/9, SK-841 41 Bratislava, Slovakia
Interests: natural products; pharmacology; immunology; rheumatoid arthritis; medicinal plants; antioxidants; biological models; new generations of drug delivery; functional food
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Inflammation is a biological response of the immune system to infectious microorganisms,  tissue injury, cell death, and physical, chemical or biological mediators in the body in order to preserve normal tissue homeostasis. Both the innate and adaptive immune responses as are involved in inflammatory processes. However, uncontrolled acute inflammation may become chronic, contributing to a variety of chronic inflammatory diseases. Long-term use of anti-inflammatory drugs have been shown to cause many adverse effects. Hence, replacing traditional anti-inflammatory drugs with natural compounds without toxic side effects and with good curative effects is an urgent issue to be solved in the clinical treatment of inflammation-related diseases. Natural products, which have more pharmacological activities and lower toxicity, can serve as potential resources to develop natural anti-inflammatory drugs. They include bioactive peptides, fatty acids, polysaccharides, flavonoids, polyphenols, alkaloids, terpenes, natural pigments, volatile oils, and quinones, either present in the system or isolated from marine or plant sources: namely, omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, white willow bark, curcumin (tumeric), green tea, pycnogenol (maritime pine bark), and resveratrol. They mostly act by suppressing the NF-kB and cyclooxygenase pathways in order to inhibit leukocyte recruitment, but other pathways could also be important and should be studied. Compounds isolated from terrestrial and marine plants are still not sufficiently investigated concerning their use as therapies in diseases involving inflammation.

Dr. Katarína Bauerová
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • inflammation
  • natural compounds
  • terrestrial plants
  • marine plants
  • NF-kB
  • hemoxygenase and cyclooxygenase pathways

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 8050 KiB  
Article
Investigating Natural Product Inhibitors of IKKα: Insights from Integrative In Silico and Experimental Validation
by Muhammad Yasir, Jinyoung Park, Eun-Taek Han, Jin-Hee Han, Won Sun Park, Jongseon Choe and Wanjoo Chun
Molecules 2025, 30(9), 2025; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules30092025 - 2 May 2025
Abstract
Nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling plays a pivotal role in regulating immune responses and is strongly implicated in cancer progression and inflammation-related diseases. The inhibitory κB kinases (IKKs), particularly IKKα, are central to modulating NF-κB activity, with distinct roles in the canonical and non-canonical [...] Read more.
Nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling plays a pivotal role in regulating immune responses and is strongly implicated in cancer progression and inflammation-related diseases. The inhibitory κB kinases (IKKs), particularly IKKα, are central to modulating NF-κB activity, with distinct roles in the canonical and non-canonical signaling pathways. This study investigates the potential of selectively targeting IKKα to develop novel therapeutic strategies. A receptor–ligand interaction pharmacophore model was generated based on the co-crystallized structure of IKKα, incorporating six key features, two hydrogen bond acceptors, two hydrogen bond donors, one hydrophobic region, and one hydrophobic aromatic region. This model was used to virtually screen a diverse natural compound library of 5540 molecules, yielding 82 candidates that matched the essential pharmacophore features. Molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations were subsequently employed to evaluate binding conformations, stability, and dynamic behavior of the top hits. The end-state free energy calculations (gmx_MMPBSA) further validated the interaction strength and stability of selected compounds. To experimentally confirm their inhibitory potential, key compounds were tested in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells, where they significantly reduced IκBα phosphorylation. These findings validate the integrative computational-experimental approach and identify promising natural compounds as selective IKKα inhibitors for further therapeutic development in cancer and inflammatory diseases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Role of Natural Products in Inflammation)
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18 pages, 5200 KiB  
Article
Sesquiterpene Lactones Containing an α-Methylene-γ-Lactone Moiety Selectively Down-Regulate the Expression of Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor 1 by Promoting Its Ectodomain Shedding in Human Lung Adenocarcinoma A549 Cells
by Quy Van Vu, Shinsei Sayama, Masayoshi Ando and Takao Kataoka
Molecules 2024, 29(8), 1866; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29081866 - 19 Apr 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1569
Abstract
Alantolactone is a eudesmane-type sesquiterpene lactone containing an α-methylene-γ-lactone moiety. Previous studies showed that alantolactone inhibits the nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) signaling pathway by targeting the inhibitor of NF-κB (IκB) kinase. However, in the present study, we demonstrated that alantolactone selectively down-regulated the [...] Read more.
Alantolactone is a eudesmane-type sesquiterpene lactone containing an α-methylene-γ-lactone moiety. Previous studies showed that alantolactone inhibits the nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) signaling pathway by targeting the inhibitor of NF-κB (IκB) kinase. However, in the present study, we demonstrated that alantolactone selectively down-regulated the expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor 1 (TNF-R1) in human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells. Alantolactone did not affect the expression of three adaptor proteins recruited to TNF-R1. The down-regulation of TNF-R1 expression by alantolactone was suppressed by an inhibitor of TNF-α-converting enzyme. Alantolactone increased the soluble forms of TNF-R1 that were released into the culture medium as an ectodomain. The structure–activity relationship of eight eudesmane derivatives revealed that an α-methylene-γ-lactone moiety was needed to promote TNF-R1 ectodomain shedding. In addition, parthenolide and costunolide, two sesquiterpene lactones with an α-methylene-γ-lactone moiety, increased the amount of soluble TNF-R1. Therefore, the present results demonstrate that sesquiterpene lactones with an α-methylene-γ-lactone moiety can down-regulate the expression of TNF-R1 by promoting its ectodomain shedding in A549 cells. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Role of Natural Products in Inflammation)
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