Therapeutic Potential of Aldehyde Dehydrogenases
A Special Issue of Pharmaceuticals (ISSN 1424-8247) belonging to the section "Medicinal Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 January 2026) | Viewed by 2421
Editors
Interests: cancer; aldehyde dehydrogenases; cancer stem cells; DNA damage; oxidative stress; chemoresistance; natural products; antioxidants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: DNA damage; oxidative stress; antioxidants; natural bioactive compounds; aging; cancer research; cancer stem cells; ALDHs; aldehyde dehydrogenases
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDHs) are a superfamily of NAD(P)+-dependent enzymes that catalyze the oxidation of endogenous (lipids, amino acids, and vitamins) and exogenous (ethanol and drugs) aldehydes to their corresponding carboxylic acids. There are 19 putative ALDH genes in the human genome, organized into 11 families and 4 subfamilies, each exhibiting different cellular localization, substrate specificity, tissue distribution, and expression patterns. These enzymes play a vital metabolic role in antioxidant defense by deactivating several reactive aldehydes and catabolizing certain xenobiotics. Recent studies have indicated that ALDHs are involved in numerous diseases including cancer, diabetes, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s, as well as Sjögren–Larsson syndrome. These multifunctional enzymes participate in various cellular processes, such as cell proliferation, differentiation, and survival, and have been identified as CSC-associated molecules. Specific ALDH isoforms are crucial mediators in the acquisition of the CSC phenotype and may be promising targets for CSC-based therapeutic approaches. However, the therapeutic potential of ALDHs in neurological disorders remains largely unexplored.
In this Special Issue, novel findings will be presented regarding all therapeutic aspects of ALDH research, including the elucidation of ALDH signaling and their metabolic role within the cell, which will lead to the identification of new therapeutic targets and the development of novel specific ALDH inhibitors. Mapping out the heterogeneity of tumors and their cancer stem cell components will be key to successful designs of strategies involving therapeutics targeted against specific ALDH isozymes.
Dr. Ilias Tsochantaridis
Dr. Georgia-Persephoni Voulgaridou
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- ALDH
- cancer
- cancer stem cells
- diabetes
- Parkinson’s disease
- Alzheimer’s disease
- ALDH inhibitors
- ALDH signaling
- CSC-based therapeutics
- therapeutic strategies
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