Design, Synthesis and Structure-Activity Relationship of Biologically Active Inhibitors

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, various approaches, such as structure-based design and high-throughput screening assays, have led to the identification of biologically active inhibitors with broad therapeutic actions.

Bioactive inhibitors are agents with the ability to:

• Downregulate or block the expression of proteins, with consequent growth disruption;
• Prevent protein–protein interactions, which leads to controlling compromised and abnormal pathways;
• Block the catalytic activity of enzymes, resulting in a lower enzymatic activity and therapeutic benefits.

The impressive efforts made to identify molecules which disrupt pivotal processes in cancer, organ dysfunction, metabolic disorders, and infectious diseases led to a huge number of bioactive inhibitors marketed globally.

Despite the achievements, the development of more potent, safe, selective, and drug-like bioactive inhibitors is still a major challenge. In fact, several issues, such as drug resistance and toxicity, strongly limit the effectiveness of therapies.

This Special Issue aims to collect research articles reporting the development of biologically active inhibitors with anticancer and antimicrobial activity, as well as inhibitors useful to treat metabolic disorders and organ dysfunction. Review articles describing structure–activity relationships with detailed data for the drug discovery process are also welcome.

Dr. Santo Previti
Dr. Roberta Ettari
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.