Natural products feature enormous structural and chemical diversity that cannot be matched by any synthetic library, and continue to remain the best source for leads in modern drug discovery. Plants play a leading role as a storehouse of both bioactive secondary metabolites and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). However, other organisms such as marine and terrestrial animals and microorganisms provide a wide variety of secondary metabolites as drug candidates. Plant AMPs are expressed in the majority of species, and small cystein-rich peptides (thionins, defensins, cyclotides) are the most abundant ones. Besides higher plants, amphibian skin is among the richest reservoirs of AMPs. Their mechanism of action limits the incidence of resistance, strengthening the importance of AMPs and their study. Overall, such natural products are very attractive compounds for the generation of new drugs against different diseases like cancer and microbial infections.

This Research Topic aims at opening new avenues to fight cancer and/or infectious diseases by becoming the reference point for studies on phytochemicals and natural peptides with the ability to display in vitro/in vivo activity against tumor cells and/or microbial pathogens, either when used alone or in combination with traditional drugs. However, limitations for preclinical and clinical development of such molecules as new pharmacological tools lie with their cytotoxicity, low solubility, low bioavailability, and limited diffusion through biological barriers before reaching the target site. Hence, this Research Topic will also show how the employment of computational techniques, efficient synthetic tools, and nanotechnology approaches can help overcome such drawbacks and assist the production of proper drug-delivery systems.

We welcome Original Research, Review, and Mini review articles, on themes including, but not limited to:

• Design, synthesis and optimization of lead compounds (secondary metabolites and peptides) to prevent uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells and/or to treat and control microbial resistant infections that represent a serious threat to human health
• Experimental evidence of succesful nanotechnology-based approaches to enhance solubility, stability, bioavailability and delivery of such selected compounds while minimizing their cytotoxicity, for the development of new anticancer/anti-infective therapies.

A multidisciplinary approach encompassing synthetic and computational chemistry, chemical biology, as well as medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry, is highly encouraged.

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