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Pharmaceuticals
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Pleiotropic Agents and Their Therapeutic Potential in Gastroenterology, Angiology, and...
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Pleiotropic Agents and Their Therapeutic Potential in Gastroenterology, Angiology, and Musculoskeletal Disorders

A special issue of Pharmaceuticals (ISSN 1424-8247). This special issue belongs to the section "Biopharmaceuticals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 April 2026 | Viewed by 581

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Predrag Sikirić

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Interests: gastrointestinal tract; cytoprotection; blood vessels; stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Mario Starešinić

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Interests: orthopaedic; trauma; sportstrauma; injury; healing; surgery; fracture
Dr. Anita Skrtic

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Interests: transplantation pathology; gastrointestinal and genitourinary pathology; hematopathology; research custom animal models; molecular pathology and molecular diagnostics
Prof. Dr. Alenka Boban Blagaic

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Interests: BPC 157; melanocortin; cytoprotection; in vitro models

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Pleiotropic agents—compounds capable of exerting multiple, interconnected biological effects—represent an exciting frontier in medicine, with potential applications across gastroenterology, angiology, and musculoskeletal disorders. By simultaneously modulating angiogenesis, nitric oxide signaling, inflammation, and extracellular matrix remodeling, these agents address the complex, multifactorial nature of tissue injury and organ dysfunction in ways traditional single-target therapies cannot. Notably, such peptides have already shown consistent preclinical efficacy in promoting gastrointestinal protection, vascular stability, and musculoskeletal repair, highlighting a novel therapeutic avenue ripe for exploration. The pleiotropic nature of these compounds offers opportunities not only for accelerating tissue healing and restoring homeostasis but also for bridging disciplines and inspiring collaborative translational research. By engaging the broader scientific and clinical community, we can collectively advance understanding, optimize therapeutic strategies, and accelerate the development of integrative treatments that benefit multiple organ systems simultaneously.

Prof. Dr. Predrag Sikirić
Dr. Mario Starešinić
Dr. Anita Skrtic
Prof. Dr. Alenka Boban Blagaic
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. Pharmaceuticals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2900 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

  • pleiotropic agents
  • therapeutic potential
  • tissue repair
  • angiogenesis
  • gastroenterology
  • musculoskeletal disorders

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

57 pages, 1144 KB  
Review
Challenge of Corneal Ulcer Healing: A Novel Conceptual Framework, the “Triad” of Corneal Ulcer Healing/Corneal Neovascularization/Intraocular Pressure, and Avascular Tendon Healing, for Evaluation of Corneal Ulcer Therapy, Therapy of Neovascularization, Glaucoma Therapy, and Pentadecapeptide BPC 157 Efficacy
by Sanja Masnec, Antonio Kokot, Tamara Kralj, Mirna Zlatar, Kristina Loncaric, Marko Sablic, Miro Kalauz, Iva Beslic, Katarina Oroz, Bozana Mrvelj, Lidija Beketic Oreskovic, Ivana Oreskovic, Sanja Strbe, Borna Staresinic, Goran Slivsek, Alenka Boban Blagaic, Sven Seiwerth, Anita Skrtic and Predrag Sikiric
Pharmaceuticals 2025, 18(12), 1822; https://doi.org/10.3390/ph18121822 - 28 Nov 2025
Viewed by 478
Abstract
To better address the challenge of corneal ulcer healing, with already available standard agents, and those recently introduced, such as stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157, we introduced a novel conceptual framework—the “triad” of corneal ulcer healing↔corneal neovascularization↔intraocular pressure—and extended it to avascular tissues [...] Read more.
To better address the challenge of corneal ulcer healing, with already available standard agents, and those recently introduced, such as stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157, we introduced a novel conceptual framework—the “triad” of corneal ulcer healing↔corneal neovascularization↔intraocular pressure—and extended it to avascular tissues such as tendon. Within this framework, cytoprotection serves as the unifying principle, underscoring that therapeutic effects are not isolated but interconnected. Preclinical studies with BPC 157 therapy, as a cytoprotection agent, illustrate this integration. BPC 157 rapidly normalizes elevated intraocular pressure in glaucomatous rats, preserves retinal integrity, restores pupil function, maintains corneal transparency during ulcer or abrasion healing, and counteracts both corneal neovascularization and dry eye. In parallel, its consistent efficacy in tendon injury models highlights a cytoprotective specificity across avascular tissues. The cornea’s “angiogenic privilege,” preserved during healing and tendon recovery together, provides strong proof of concept. Furthermore, mapping standard therapeutic agents used for corneal ulcers, neovascularization, or glaucoma onto this triad, and linking them with tendon healing, reveals both shared pathways and inconsistencies across existing drug classes. Analyzed were the ascorbate, fibronectin, hyaluronic acid, metalloproteinase inhibitors, EGF, FGF, NGF, insulin, and IGF-1 (corneal ulcer healing), the antiangiogenic agents (endostatin, PAI-1, PEDF, angiostatin, TSP-1, TSP-2, IFN-α), corticosteroids, NSAIDs, cyclosporine A, anti-VEGF drops (treatment of corneal neovascularization), and alpha 2-agonists, beta-blockers, carboanhydrase inhibitors, muscarinic agonists, Rho-kinase inhibitors, and prostaglandin analogs (glaucoma). Taken together, these findings advance cytoprotection as a unifying therapeutic paradigm, with BPC 157 emerging as its first exemplar, and encourage further translational research toward clinical application. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pleiotropic Agents and Their Therapeutic Potential in Gastroenterology, Angiology, and Musculoskeletal Disorders)
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