Emerging Therapeutic Strategies for Heart Diseases
A special issue of Pharmaceuticals (ISSN 1424-8247). This special issue belongs to the section "Pharmacology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 April 2026 | Viewed by 41
Special Issue Editor
2. DZHK (German Center for Cardiovascular Research), Partner Site Hamburg/Lübeck/Kiel, 23562 Lübeck, Germany
Interests: cardiology; translational medicine; cardiometabolism; cardioimmunology
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue focuses on drug discovery and development for cardiovascular diseases, spanning small-molecule and biologic modalities with clear pharmacological characterization. We invite studies on hit identification and lead optimization (SAR, structure–property relationships, molecular modeling, pharmacophore design, cheminformatics/AI) targeting validated or emerging cardiovascular pathways (e.g., inflammation including complement and immune cell effectors, fibrosis/ECM remodeling, ion channels, metabolic axes such as SGLT2/GLP-1). We welcome biomolecule-based therapeutics—such as peptides, antibodies, aptamers, nucleic-acid drugs (siRNA/ASO/mRNA)—and drug delivery innovations (bioconjugates, prodrugs, nanoparticles, exosomes) enabling cardiac or endothelium-targeted delivery. Manuscripts should emphasize biological targets and biomarkers (binding affinity, target engagement, mechanistic assays) and rigorous PK/PD and ADME evaluation from in vitro and animal experimentation through early clinical trials. We particularly encourage radiopharmaceutical sciences (PET/SPECT tracers, hybrid imaging) to quantify target expression, biodistribution, and dose selection, as well as formulation science for dosage-form design and stability. Submissions integrating imaging and molecular biomarkers to drive precision patient stratification and exposure–response analyses are prioritized. Both updated reviews, full research articles, and short communications are welcome, provided they present comprehensive theoretical and experimental detail to accelerate translational cardiovascular therapeutics.
Dr. Elias Rawish
Guest Editor
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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
- medicinal chemistry
- drug design
- SAR
- molecular modeling
- pharmacophore
- cardiovascular targets
- inflammation
- complement
- neutrophils/NETosis
- fibrosis
- ion channels
- SGLT2
- GLP-1
- biomarkers
- binding affinity
- PK/PD
- ADME
- radiopharmaceuticals
- PET/SPECT
- dosage form design
- bioconjugates
- prodrugs
- nanoparticles
- exosomes
- siRNA/ASO/mRNA
- peptides
- antibodies
- aptamers
- targeted drug delivery
- early clinical trials
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