Plant Toxins: Advances, Medical Application and Potential Use
A special issue of Toxins (ISSN 2072-6651). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Toxins".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 33
Special Issue Editors
Interests: transferrins; lactoferrin; ovotransferrin; saporin; ADCs
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: drug delivery; toxins; immune conjugates; cancer therapy; protein structure; protein toxins; immunotoxins; endocytosis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Natural toxins, including those derived from plants, perform multiple and diverse functions in humans and animals. They represent a large group of structurally varied small molecules produced through plant secondary metabolism.
Plants synthesize a wide array of toxic proteins, many of which play crucial roles in defense against pathogens and insects. Beyond their ecological functions, plant toxins are valuable natural products with numerous applications in agriculture and medicine.
Among the secondary metabolites exhibiting notable toxicity to humans and animals, alkaloids, terpenes, steroids, and phenolic compounds have served as important sources or templates for drug development. Many of these molecules influence neural transmission or cell division, providing the basis for drugs used in the treatment of neurological disorders and cancer.
Plant toxins have also proven instrumental in studies on ribosome and rRNA structure and function, cellular trafficking, and programmed cell death. They exhibit antiviral, anticancer, and immunosuppressive activities, which have been harnessed both in research and in therapeutic contexts, particularly in antiviral and targeted cancer therapies.
In this Special Issue, “Plant Toxins: Advances, Medical Application and Potential Use,” we aim to provide readers with a comprehensive overview of natural toxins possessing therapeutic potential. The Special Issue focuses on their mechanisms of action, roles in drug development, associated adverse effects, and clinical applicability.
Dr. Francesco Giansanti
Prof. Dr. Rodolfo Ippoliti
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 double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxins 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 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.
Keywords
- plant toxins
- secondary metabolites
- targeted therapies
- medicinal plant
- precision medicine
- immunotherapy
- drug delivery
- drug development
- antiviral activity
- cancer therapy
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