The NOD-like receptor family, pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome is an intracellular multiprotein complex that recognizes various danger or stress signals from pathogens, the host, and the environment. Activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome appears to occur in two steps. The first step involves a priming signal to activate NF-?B-mediated signaling, which in turn up-regulates the transcription of NLRP3 and proIL-1ß. The second step of inflammasome activation is the oligomerization of NLRP3 and subsequent assembly of NLRP3, ASC, and procaspase-1 into a complex. Although the NLRP3 inflammasome is essential for the host defense during infections, overexpression of NLRP3 inflammasome component and over-activation of NLRP3 inflammasome has been reported as occurring in the pathogenesis of many complex diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, inflammatory bowel disease, and cancers.
Based on the knowledge of biochemical and structural aspects of NLRP3 activation, targeting the NLRP3 inflammasome become an attractive therapeutic target for inflammatory-related diseases. Active natural products have been extensively present in traditional medicines and the source of new drug discoveries in history. Remarkably, many natural compounds such as oridonin, isoliquiritigenin, and ginsenosides or herb plants such as Forsythiae Fructus, Cinnamomi Ramulus, and Coriolus versicolor have been shown to suppress activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome.
The establishment of this research topic mainly provides a communication platform for chemists and biologists to put light on the current status of natural products with anti-NLRP3 effects. Manuscripts may cover in vitro and in vivo models, and human studies. In this special collection of articles, we welcome Original papers, Reviews articles, and Mini-Reviews, but are not limited to:
• Targeted discovery and separation of new NLRP3 inhibitors from natural resources.
• Functional and structural analysis of natural NLRP3 inhibitors.
• Bioavailability, efficacy, and safety of the known NLRP3 inhibitors.
• Natural products or herb medicine with anti-NLRP3 effects.
Note: The traditional context must be described in the introduction and supported with primary bibliographical references. The identification of the medicinal plants needs to be well documented and as a reminder fully validated species names must be used. Furthermore, any plant extracts need to be chemically well-characterized.
All the manuscripts submitted to the collection will need to fully comply with the
Four Pillars of Best Practice in Ethnopharmacology (you can freely download the full version
here).
