Novel Anti-inflammatory and Analgesic Agents: Synthesis, Molecular Docking and In Vivo Studies

Dear Colleagues,

It is a pleasure for us to invite you to submit a review or a research article for publication in the Special Issue entitled “Novel Anti-inflammatory and Analgesic agents: Synthesis, Molecular Docking and In Vivo Studies” of the journal Molecules (MDPI).

Inflammation represents our body's first immune response to noxious stimuli. In the beginning, it is useful because it initiates healing processes. However, if the inflammatory stimulus persists, it can feed itself, enhancing inflammation and therefore harming the body. Inflammatory diseases are widespread all over the world, and inflammation remains a common and poorly controlled disease that can even lead to death, as in the case of allergies, autoimmune diseases, and rejection of transplanted organs. Chronic inflammation has been associated with a variety of diseases including cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, lung disease, and many others. Inflammatory diseases represent a common medical, social, and economic burden, and their pharmacotherapy is still an unsolved problem. Therefore, there is a great and urgent need to develop anti-inflammatory and analgesic agents with new mechanisms of action. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, glucocorticoids, and opioids were introduced into the clinic a long time ago, but in contrast to antihypertensive or anticancer drugs, the field of anti-inflammatory and analgesic agents has not changed much in the last few decades in terms of discovery of new mechanisms of action. Numerous biological drugs targeting several key molecules have represented a breakthrough in the treatment of certain autoimmune/inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease. However, these products have numerous limitations such as high costs, inconvenient route of administration, which is often only parenteral, and long-term side effects that often restrain their administration and do not effectively reduce pain. In recent years, promising new approaches have been reported in different clinical phases of drug development focused on TRPV1/A1 channel antagonism (or agonism for desensitization), VCSC/VGCC blockade, inhibition of several enzymes (kinases, SSAO, MMP), cytokines/chemokines, transcription factors, NGF, and modulation of several G protein-coupled receptors (cannabinoids, purinoceptors, neuropeptides).

Therefore, this Special Issue will focus on the role and effectiveness of new anti-inflammatory and analgesic agents in promoting health and well-being. We welcome articles including results at the molecular level and those presenting data from in vivo experiments. In addition, review articles on therapeutic targets or biomarkers related to current anti-inflammatory and analgesic agents would complete this collection.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Chemistry.

Prof. Dr. Rosanna Di Paola
Dr. Rosalba Siracusa
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.