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Bioactive Natural Compounds: Protecting Plants and Promoting Human Health, 2nd Edition

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: 28 February 2025 | Viewed by 1585

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Gina Rosalinda De Nicola

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Centre for Vegetables and Ornamental Crops, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), Via dei Fiori 8, 51017 Pescia, Italy
Interests: glucosinolate; isothiocyanate; myrosinase; Brassicales; nutraceuticals; biopesticides; biostimulants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Recently, interest in natural resources, e.g., plants, biomass processing coproducts, microorganisms, and algae, as sources of bioactive compounds has been booming worldwide. Climate, economic, and social change are the main drivers challenging the scientific community to find effective and sustainable bio-based products to meet new legislations and consumer choices. Bioactive natural compounds offer a wide variety of possible applications, ranging from plant protection to human health-promoting effects. Knowledge regarding the broad diversity of natural compounds is continuously evolving, receiving increasing attention from scientists of several disciplines involved in multidisciplinary research projects.

This Special Issue on “Bioactive Natural Compounds: Protecting Plants and Promoting Human Health” welcomes original research and reviews covering several aspects of natural compounds including, but not limited to, the following: their discovery in and from different sources; their extraction, isolation, and characterization; their biotechnological production and chemical modification; the evaluation of their in vitro and in vivo bioactivity; their role at the molecular level and the elucidation of their mechanism of action; and the investigation of their stability and functionality for potential practical application in plant protection and human health.

Dr. Gina Rosalinda De Nicola
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

  • natural products
  • molecular biology
  • chemical characterization
  • bioactivity
  • mechanism of action
  • plant protection
  • human health promotion
  • antioxidant
  • anti-inflammation
  • biopesticides
  • biostimulants
  • nutraceuticals

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 3721 KiB  
Article
Administration of Spermidine and Eugenol Demonstrates Anti-Tumorigenic Efficacy on Metastatic SW620 and Primary Caco-2 Colorectal Cancer Spheroids
by Silvia Dilloo, Anne Whittaker, Xinyue Chang, Eros D’Amen, Enzo Spisni, Silvana Hrelia, Cristina Angeloni, Marco Malaguti, Giovanni Dinelli and Francesca Truzzi
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(24), 13362; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms252413362 - 13 Dec 2024
Viewed by 455
Abstract
The anti-cancer potential of eugenol (EUG) is well recognized, whereas that of spermidine (SPD) is subject to dispute and requires further research. The anti-tumorigenic potential of wheat germ SPD (150 µM) and clove EUG (100 µM), alone, in combination as SPD+EUG (50 µM [...] Read more.
The anti-cancer potential of eugenol (EUG) is well recognized, whereas that of spermidine (SPD) is subject to dispute and requires further research. The anti-tumorigenic potential of wheat germ SPD (150 µM) and clove EUG (100 µM), alone, in combination as SPD+EUG (50 µM + 100 µM) and, as a supplement (SUPPL; 0.6 µM SPD + 50 µM EUG), was investigated on both metastatic SW620 and primary Caco-2 colorectal cancer (CRC) spheroids. Compared to untreated controls, all treatments significantly reduced the vitality and spheroid area, increased the necrotic area, and induced apoptosis on both cell-type spheroids after 96 h, with a reduced migration evident in 2D (two-dimensional) cultures after 48 h. The comparable anti-CRC effects of the SPD+EUG and the SUPPL reflected a wide-range dose efficacy of SPD and EUG. It is of note that SPD+EUG induced a synergistic effect on the increased caspase-3 expression and reduced the migration percentage in SW620. In more physiologically relevant intestinal equivalents (healthy enterocytes [NCM460], fibroblasts [L929], and monocytes [U937]) containing embedded SW620/Caco-2 spheroids, SPD+EUG administration significantly reduced the spheroid CEA marker and proliferation, whilst simultaneously increasing occludin, autophagy LC3-II expression, and monocyte differentiation, compared to the control models. Exogenous SPD, alone and in combination with EUG, displayed an anti-CRC potential on tumor growth and metastasis, and warrants further investigation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioactive Natural Compounds: Protecting Plants and Promoting Human Health, 2nd Edition)
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13 pages, 1854 KiB  
Article
Drug Combination Studies of Isoquinolinone AM12 with Curcumin or Quercetin: A New Combination Strategy to Synergistically Inhibit 20S Proteasome
by Carla Di Chio, Santo Previti, Josè Starvaggi, Fabiola De Luca, Maria Luisa Calabrò, Maria Zappalà and Roberta Ettari
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(19), 10708; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms251910708 - 4 Oct 2024
Viewed by 905
Abstract
In the eukaryotic cells, the ubiquitin–proteasome system (UPS) plays a crucial role in the intracellular protein turnover. It is involved in several cellular functions such as the control of the regular cell cycle progression, the immune surveillance, and the homeostasis. Within the 20S [...] Read more.
In the eukaryotic cells, the ubiquitin–proteasome system (UPS) plays a crucial role in the intracellular protein turnover. It is involved in several cellular functions such as the control of the regular cell cycle progression, the immune surveillance, and the homeostasis. Within the 20S proteasome barrel-like structure, the catalytic subunits, β1, β2 and β5, are responsible for different proteolytic activities: caspase-like (C-L), trypsin-like (T-L) and chymotrypsin-like (ChT-L), respectively. The β5 subunit is particularly targeted for its role in antitumor activity: the synthesis of β5 subunit inhibitors could be a promising strategy for the treatment of solid and hematologic tumors. In the present work, we performed two combination studies of AM12, a recently developed synthetic proteasome inhibitor, with curcumin and quercetin, two nutraceuticals endowed of many pharmacological properties. We measured the combination index (CI), applying the Chou and Talalay method, comparing the two studies, from 50% to 90% of proteasome inhibition. In the case of the combination AM12 + curcumin, an increasing synergism was observed from 50% to 90% of proteasome inhibition, while in the case of the combination AM12 + quercetin an additive effect was observed only from 50% to 70% of β5 subunit inhibition. These results suggest that combining AM12 with curcumin is a more promising strategy than combining it with quercetin for potential therapeutic applications, especially in treating tumors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioactive Natural Compounds: Protecting Plants and Promoting Human Health, 2nd Edition)
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