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Natural Active Products: Molecular Mechanisms and Advanced Therapies

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Bioactives and Nutraceuticals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 February 2025 | Viewed by 1746

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Departamento de Ciências Químicas, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Interests: anti-inflammatory; medicinal plant; phytochemical
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Natural products (NPs) play a key role in drug discovery, and especially in cancer pharmacotherapy, due to their multitarget effects. When compared with purely synthetic materials obtained from combinatorial chemistry, NP-based structures display greater chemical diversity and occupy larger regions of the chemical space. Consequently, the interest in NPs as drug leads is being revitalized, particularly for tackling inflammatory diseases.

This Special Issue (SI) is open to both original research and updated review articles focusing on the discovery of NPs and/or derivatives with anticancer and/or anti-inflammatory properties. Detailed analyses of their activities and molecular mechanisms of action, assessments of their effectiveness in comparison to toxicity, and targeted therapy studies are among the subjects of particular interest. Studies reporting the effects of complex extracts from natural origin are outside the scope of this SI unless the precise active components and molecular formulas of the natural substances are disclosed in the manuscript.

Dr. Renato B. Pereira
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • natural products
  • natural products isolation
  • semisynthetic derivatives
  • virtual screening
  • molecular docking
  • cellular mechanisms
  • anti-inflammatory agents
  • cancer
  • targeted therapy
  • structure–activity relationships

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 3951 KiB  
Article
Piperonylic Acid Promotes Hair Growth by Activation of EGFR and Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway
by Seung Hyun Han, Kyung Won Jo, Younghyun Kim and Kyong-Tai Kim
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(19), 10774; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms251910774 - 7 Oct 2024
Viewed by 1224
Abstract
Dermal papilla cells (DPCs) are located at the bottom of the hair follicle and play a critical role in hair growth, shape, and cycle. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways are essential in promoting keratinocyte activation as well as hair [...] Read more.
Dermal papilla cells (DPCs) are located at the bottom of the hair follicle and play a critical role in hair growth, shape, and cycle. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways are essential in promoting keratinocyte activation as well as hair follicle formation in DPCs. Piperonylic acid is a small molecule that induces EGFR activation in keratinocytes. However, the effects of piperonylic acid on DPCs in regard to the stimulation of hair growth have not been studied. In the present study, piperonylic acid was shown to activate the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in addition to the EGFR signaling pathway in DPCs. Piperonylic acid suppressed DKK1 expression, which presumably promoted the accumulation of β-catenin in the nucleus. In addition, piperonylic acid promoted cyclin D upregulation and cell growth and increased the expression of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), a DPC marker. In a clinical study, the group that applied a formulation containing piperonylic acid had a significantly higher number of hairs per unit area than the placebo group. These results identify piperonylic acid as a promising new candidate for hair loss treatment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Natural Active Products: Molecular Mechanisms and Advanced Therapies)
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