Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Ocean University of China: Potential Therapeutic Benefits of Marine Novel Natural Products

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 May 2025 | Viewed by 404

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs, Ministry of Education of China, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China
Interests: marine natural products; biological activities

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Marine Drugs, Chinese Ministry of Education, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China
Interests: platelet; thrombosis and hemostasis; adhesion molecules; cardiovascular diseases; targeted therapy
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Founded in 1924, the Ocean University of China is one of the nation's leading educational institutions and comprehensive research universities. In 2003, Marine Drugs was founded at the Ocean University of China by the esteemed professor Guan Huashi, the Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. In celebration of the centenary milestone of the Ocean University of China, this Special Issue invites research on the “Potential Therapeutic Benefits of Marine Novel Natural Products”. Marine environments host an incredible diversity of unique natural compounds with vast therapeutic potential. Marine organisms are renowned as a vast reservoir of bioactive compounds with unique chemical structures and pharmacological potential. From deep-sea sponges to coastal algae, the ocean provides an abundance of natural products that hold promise for advancing drug discovery and development. To unlock the full therapeutic potential of marine natural products, it is essential to gain a comprehensive understanding of their molecular targets within biological systems. Identifying these targets is key to uncovering mechanisms of action, refining drug design, and progressing toward the clinical application of marine-derived therapeutics.

This Special Issue invites original research articles, reviews, case studies, and perspectives on various aspects of target identification related to marine natural products. Topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

(1) Mechanistic insights into the biological activities of marine-derived compounds;

(2) Target identification of marine compounds with therapeutic potential across a range of disease areas, such as thrombosis, vascular disorders, cancer, infectious diseases, neurodegenerative disorders, and inflammation;

(3) Strategies to address challenges in target identification for marine natural products.

For this Special Issue, we encourage contributions from researchers across scientific disciplines to share their latest discoveries, comprehensive reviews, and expert perspectives in this interdisciplinary field, advancing our understanding of potential therapeutic benefits of marine novel natural products.

Prof. Dr. Peng Fu
Prof. Dr. Chuanbin Shen
Guest Editors

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. Marine Drugs 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 2900 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.

Keywords

  • marine biotechnology
  • pharmacological profiling
  • marine anti-inflammatory agents
  • cancer therapeutics
  • infectious disease treatment
  • vascular disorder treatment
  • antithrombotic therapy
  • marine bioactive compounds
  • molecular targets
  • marine-derived therapeutics

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 6186 KiB  
Article
Low-Molecular-Weight Fucoidan Inhibits Thromboinflammation and Ameliorates Deep Vein Thrombosis via Targeting S100A8/A9
by Yiting Feng, Weiqing Zhao, Siwen Fang, Jingwen Zhao, Wanshuai Wang, Shaoyun Zhou, Tianyu Wang, Xinke Fang, Xue Chen, Muhammad Awais, Chao Cai, Chuanbin Shen and Ming Liu
Mar. Drugs 2025, 23(5), 180; https://doi.org/10.3390/md23050180 - 22 Apr 2025
Abstract
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a prevalent life-threatening complication among hospitalized patients. DVT is characterized by the hypercoagulability and thromboinflammation in which platelet activation and neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation are critically involved. Studies have shown that S100A8/A9 is significantly elevated in patients [...] Read more.
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a prevalent life-threatening complication among hospitalized patients. DVT is characterized by the hypercoagulability and thromboinflammation in which platelet activation and neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation are critically involved. Studies have shown that S100A8/A9 is significantly elevated in patients with DVT, and is closely associated with platelet activation and NET formation. Fucoidan, the marine polysaccharide derived from Fucus algae, has potential anti-inflammatory and cardioprotective effects. We found low-molecular-weight fucoidan (LMF) bound to S100A8/A9 with an equilibrium dissociation constant (KD) of 2.368 × 10−8 M. LMF inhibited S100A8/A9-induced platelet hyperactivity and NET formation in vitro, and ameliorated DVT without significantly perturbing hemostasis in vivo. Our results indicate that the alarmin protein S100A8/A9 is a novel target of LMF. LMF may have therapeutic potential in S100A8/A9-induced thromboinflammation in DVT. Full article
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12 pages, 1713 KiB  
Article
Antibacterial Methyl Ester Cembranoids from the Soft Coral Sarcophyton ehrenbergi and Their Structural Elucidation
by Meng-Jun Wu, Song-Wei Li, Fei Xu, Ming-Zhi Su and Yue-Wei Guo
Mar. Drugs 2025, 23(4), 170; https://doi.org/10.3390/md23040170 - 15 Apr 2025
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Abstract
Six previously undescribed methyl ester cembranoids, namely sarcoehrenolides L–Q (16), along with three known related ones (79), were isolated from the soft coral Sarcophyton ehrenbergi collected off Weizhou Island in the South China Sea. Their [...] Read more.
Six previously undescribed methyl ester cembranoids, namely sarcoehrenolides L–Q (16), along with three known related ones (79), were isolated from the soft coral Sarcophyton ehrenbergi collected off Weizhou Island in the South China Sea. Their structures and absolute configurations were unambiguously established in the light of extensive spectroscopic data analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis, chemical conversion, and TDDFT-ECD calculations. All isolated compounds were evaluated via in vitro bioassays to investigate their antibacterial activity against eighteen human and fish pathogens. Compounds 2, 8, and 9 exhibited moderate antibacterial activity against Streptococcus parauberis with MIC values of 38.8, 37.4 and 31.6 μg/mL, respectively. Full article
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