Connection of Marine Natural Products and Cell Apoptosis

Dear Colleagues,

Programmed cell death was suspected to exist for many years, but was not fully described or called apoptosis until 1972, when Kerr, Wylie and Currie gave us the hallmarks to define this process. Since then, our focus was on understanding the signalling that directed this event, and what a carefully orchestrated event it turned out to be; with many signalling molecules that drive the process, many that regulate it and even others that stop it. This careful orchestration, along with the conservation of the pathway through species, highlights the importance of apoptosis to the well-being of a cell (and of an organism) from development to fighting off disease and infections. Apoptosis, though, is not alone. We now understand that in addition to apoptosis there are other forms of regulated cell death such as necroptosis, a regulated form of necrosis. There are related processes such as autophagy that along with apoptosis regulate cell fate. We also understand that apoptosis occurs beyond the intrinsic and extrinsic pathways with caspase independent forms of apoptosis existing. As our understanding of the molecular process of apoptosis continues to grow, small molecules that can act upon the signalling molecules of this pathway have an increased relevance. This Special Issue will focus on marine natural products that act upon apoptosis in all its forms: promoting it, regulating it, and preventing it. Marine natural products that act upon this pathway not only have therapeutic potential, but may help us further our understanding of the complex processes of cell death and how cell fate is determined.

As Guest Editor, I invite you to contribute to this Special Issue addressing the “Connection of Marine Natural Products and Cell Apoptosis”. Both original research reports and reviews will be published online in Marine Drugs.

Dr. Esther A. Guzmán
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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