Natural Secondary Metabolites for Cancer Therapeutics: Discovery of New, Selective and Safe Drug Leads

Dear Colleagues,

Despite decades of research and extensive efforts, cancer remains one of the top causes of death in the world, accounting for approximately 10 million deaths worldwide or one of every six deaths in 2020 according to the World Health Organization. Men are more likely to be affected by lung, prostate, colorectal, stomach, and liver cancers, whereas women are more prone to breast, colorectal, lung, cervical, and thyroid cancers. Globally, the cancer burden continues to grow, exerting enormous pressure on individuals, families, communities, and healthcare systems on a physical, emotional, and financial level. Many cancer patients around the world do not have access to timely diagnosis and quality treatment because the health systems of low- and middle-income countries are ill-prepared to handle this burden. Accordingly, there is still an urgent need to develop and discover novel anticancer drugs and treatment options to combat this disease.

Secondary metabolites produced by plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms have been used for centuries as potent therapeutic agents for their interesting properties as poisons, dyes, antimicrobials, insecticides, and flavoring agents, and they may also be useful in preventing the onset of cancer. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to publish original articles as well as interesting review articles on the isolation or the investigation of mechanisms of action of secondary metabolites with potential anticancer activity. Manuscripts must provide insights, strategies, and advancements in the development of secondary-metabolite-based cancer therapeutics targeting various types of human cancers with minimal or no side effects. In vitro, in vivo, and in silico studies involved in the development of novel natural secondary metabolites that are effective as cancer therapeutics are welcome. For pharmacological studies, appropriate positive controls should be included, as well as, if possible, nontumorigenic cells, for comparison purposes. For in silico studies, at least one bench experimental datum (wet studies) is required to support and validate the conclusions. In studies conducted on natural extracts, secondary metabolites must be characterized in the extracts before the results are presented. This Special Issue will cover topics including, but not limited to, the following:

• Bioactive secondary metabolites for targeted cancer therapy.
• Detailed mechanistic studies on the anticancer activity of secondary metabolites as a new lead in cancer therapy. 
• Identification of potent and selective bioactive secondary metabolites through in silico, in vitro, and in vivo approaches for the discovery and development of inhibitors as emerging cancer therapeutics targeting various signaling pathways, transcription factors, and cellular activities associated with cancer development.

Prof. Dr. Fevzi Bardakci
Dr. Mohd Adnan
Dr. Mitesh Patel
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 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. Metabolites 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.

• bioactive secondary metabolites
• cancer therapeutics
• drug discovery
• natural products
• marine secondary metabolites
• plant secondary metabolites
• microbial secondary metabolites