Marine-Derived Bioactive Substances and Their Mechanisms of Action

A special issue of Marine Drugs (ISSN 1660-3397). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine Pharmacology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2025 | Viewed by 3935

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Bioresources Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Okinawa College, Okinawa 905-2192, Japan
Interests: oxidative stress and modulators; physiologically active substances; antioxidants; anticancer drugs
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Metabolites from marine organisms have been shown to possess a wide range of biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, anticancer, and immunomodulatory effects, and they are expected to have sustainable applications in pharmaceuticals, functional foods, and medicinal cosmetics.

We welcome the submission of high-quality review articles and research papers focused on the above topics to highlight the mechanisms of action of marine-derived bioactive substances. We welcome submissions from everyone who shares our commitment to the sustainable use of marine natural resources.

Prof. Dr. Junsei Taira
Guest Editor

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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. Marine Drugs is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

  • marine bioactive metabolite
  • antioxidant
  • anticancer
  • immunomodulatory action
  • cell signaling
  • mechanisms of action

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 1638 KiB  
Article
Staurosporine as a Potential Treatment for Acanthamoeba Keratitis Using Mouse Cornea as an Ex Vivo Model
by Rubén L. Rodríguez-Expósito, Ines Sifaoui, Lizbeth Salazar-Villatoro, Carlos J. Bethencourt-Estrella, José J. Fernández, Ana R. Díaz-Marrero, Robert Sutak, Maritza Omaña-Molina, José E. Piñero and Jacob Lorenzo-Morales
Mar. Drugs 2024, 22(9), 423; https://doi.org/10.3390/md22090423 - 18 Sep 2024
Viewed by 3650
Abstract
Acanthamoeba is a ubiquitous genus of amoebae that can trigger a severe and progressive ocular disease known as Acanthamoeba Keratitis (AK). Furthermore, current treatment protocols are based on the combination of different compounds that are not fully effective. Therefore, an urgent need to [...] Read more.
Acanthamoeba is a ubiquitous genus of amoebae that can trigger a severe and progressive ocular disease known as Acanthamoeba Keratitis (AK). Furthermore, current treatment protocols are based on the combination of different compounds that are not fully effective. Therefore, an urgent need to find new compounds to treat Acanthamoeba infections is clear. In the present study, we evaluated staurosporine as a potential treatment for Acanthamoeba keratitis using mouse cornea as an ex vivo model, and a comparative proteomic analysis was conducted to elucidate a mechanism of action. The obtained results indicate that staurosporine altered the conformation of actin and tubulin in treated trophozoites of A. castellanii. In addition, proteomic analysis of treated trophozoites revealed that this molecule induced overexpression and a downregulation of proteins related to key functions for Acanthamoeba infection pathways. Additionally, the ex vivo assay used validated this model for the study of the pathogenesis and therapies of AK. Finally, staurosporine eliminated the entire amoebic population and prevented the adhesion and infection of amoebae to the epithelium of treated mouse corneas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine-Derived Bioactive Substances and Their Mechanisms of Action)
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