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The Future of Anti-Cancer Agents Driven by High-Throughput Technologies, Computational Chemistry and Artificial Intelligence

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 25

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology and Biological Models, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico
Interests: pharmaceutical biotechnology; omics; anticancer agents; genetics

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Guest Editor
Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico
Interests: chemistry and pharmacology of natural products; pharmaceutical chemistry; metabolomics of natural products; development of new drugs with activity against mycobacterium tuberculosis; resistant bac

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Actual and future research topics on anti-cancer agents have focused on the mechanistic investigations of how emerging compounds influence essential cancer pathways such as apoptosis, cell-cycle arrest, DNA-damage responses, oxidative stress, epigenetic regulation and major oncogenic signaling networks (PI3K–Akt, MAPK, NF-κB).

This Special Issue highlights advances in the discovery and development of next-generation anti-cancer agents, integrating high-throughput technologies, computational chemistry, artificial intelligence and mechanistic biology. It features novel synthetic approaches for small molecules, heterocycles and hybrid structures, alongside structure–activity relationship (SAR) analyses that identify key determinants of potency and selectivity.

This Issue searches for established improved perspectives on major challenges in anti-cancer drug development, poor bioavailability, off-target toxicity, tumor heterogeneity and resistance and discusses innovative strategies including nanoparticle delivery systems, targeted conjugates and combination therapies.

Overall, the compilation illustrates how modern chemistry and molecular oncology converge to accelerate the translation of advanced anti-cancer agents from synthetic design to mechanistic understanding and potential therapeutic application.

Dr. Isaías Balderas-Rentería
Dr. María Del Rayo Camacho-Corona
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-blind 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

  • anti-cancer agents
  • medicinal chemistry
  • synthesis and SAR optimization
  • mechanism of action
  • oncogenic signaling pathways
  • chemoresistance
  • in silico modeling
  • targeted drug delivery

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Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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