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Chemopreventive Activity of Natural Products

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Medicinal Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 314

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Chemoprevention involves the use of natural or synthetic chemical agents to reverse, suppress, or prevent the progression of carcinogenesis to invasive cancer. Many chemopreventive agents are plant-derived compounds that possess protective or disease-preventive properties. These natural compounds exert their chemopreventive effects through the modulation of cellular redox statuses. In several cases, changes in the cellular redox environment can lead to diverse outcomes. For instance, some phytochemicals act as antioxidants, providing protection against ROS-induced DNA damage and thereby preventing mutagenesis and the initiation of carcinogenesis. However, other natural compounds induce apoptosis in cancer cells by functioning as pro-oxidants.

We invite you to submit your latest research findings or a review article to this Special Issue, which aims to compile the most recent research and critical insights into the intricate interplay between antioxidant/pro-oxidant activities and chemopreventive effects of natural compounds. These compounds may be individual substances or complex mixtures derived from terrestrial or marine sources.

Dr. Dimitrios Stagos
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • plant extracts
  • natural compounds
  • antioxidants
  • anticancer
  • polyphenols
  • ROS-induced DNA damage

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

26 pages, 2535 KB  
Article
Pharmacognosy and Antioxidant Activity of Pruned Leaves from the Unexplored Olea europaea L. ‘Lavagnina’ (Liguria, Italy)
by Federica Betuzzi, Paola Malaspina, Flavio Polito, Giovanni Bottino, Vincenzo De Feo, Laura De Martino and Laura Cornara
Molecules 2025, 30(17), 3605; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules30173605 - 3 Sep 2025
Abstract
Olea europaea L. ‘Lavagnina’ is cultivated in the Eastern Ligurian coast (Italy), and during the pruning process a huge amount of pruning residues is produced. This by-product is generally disposed of by burning, despite still containing bioactive compounds. In particular, olive leaves are [...] Read more.
Olea europaea L. ‘Lavagnina’ is cultivated in the Eastern Ligurian coast (Italy), and during the pruning process a huge amount of pruning residues is produced. This by-product is generally disposed of by burning, despite still containing bioactive compounds. In particular, olive leaves are indeed rich in secondary metabolites, which can vary both in quality and quantity in relation to the cultivar considered and the area of cultivation. For this reason, we aimed to carry out a pharmacognostic study of the pruned leaves of the unexplored local cultivar ‘Lavagnina’, evaluating the possibility of reusing this by-product for new health applications. The micromorphological characterization was conducted by light and scanning electron microscopy. ‘Lavagnina’ leaf was micromorphologically similar to that of other olive cultivars; however, it differed in terms of midrib structure. Leaf extracts were obtained using solvents of increasing polarity (petroleum ether, chloroform, methanol) and the food-grade solvent, 70% ethanol. A high antioxidant activity was found only for the methanolic (ME) and hydroalcoholic (HAE) extracts, and, therefore, they were then characterized from a phytochemical point of view by LC-ESI-HR-MS. Such analysis allowed the identification of secondary metabolites belonging mainly to secoiridoids, flavonoids, and iridoids. Overall, the HAE had the highest antioxidant activity (17.3 ± 0.6 μg/mL), and it is, therefore, the best candidate for health applications related to a protective effect on a variety of inflammation-related diseases, also considering that inflammation may play a role in cancer progression. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemopreventive Activity of Natural Products)
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