Cancer is one of the most fatal diseases worldwide. The consistent escalation of cancer occurrences globally has issued a clarion call for developing effective treatment strategies against cancer. Early in the 1920s, Warburg first revealed the phenomenon that cancer cells demonstrate increased glycolysis to produce energy for proliferation compared to normal cells, which was called the Warburg effect, and it happened despite the existence of oxygen. Meanwhile, in order to meet the increased glycolysis needs, cancer cells required the overexpression of glucose transporter (GLUT) proteins, and key glycolysis-associated enzymes (such as hexokinase 2, pyruvate kinase M2, pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase and lactate dehydrogenase A) and the accelerated glycolysis flux. Inhibition with glycolysis in tumor cells has been proposed as a novel approach for the treatment of cancer.
Natural products (crude extracts or pure compounds) are a crucial resource for finding new anti-cancer drugs, which have the characteristics of multiple targets and minimal adverse effects. Blocking glycolytic metabolism is widely used in the treatment of cancer and other metabolic diseases. It also can be achieved by natural products through the interference of GLUTs or glycolytic enzymes in different pathways, such as silibinin and micheliolide. Silibinin, a natural flavonoid which has been revealed as a GLUT inhibitor, is ongoing clinical trials for prostate cancer. ACT001, the prodrug of micheliolide which is a sesquiterpene lactone and PKM2 activator, has been approved as an orphan drug for the treatment of glioblastoma by the FDA. In this research topic, our goal is to unlock new possibilities for cancer treatment by regulating the glycolytic pathway and giving research ideas for discovering potential drugs from natural products.
This Research Topic focuses on natural products as the potential anti-tumor drugs via regulating glycolysis. At least two cancer cell lines should be used in your research work. In addition, for manuscripts dealing with plant extracts or other natural substances/compounds, the composition and the stability of the study material must be described in sufficient detail. In particular, for extracts, chromatograms with the characterization of the dominating compound(s) are requested. The level of purity must be proven and included. We welcome the latest research studies or reviews on the following themes, but are not limited to:
• The discovery and identification of natural products with novel structure and excellent bioactivity.
• The anti-tumor leading compound (especially for the pure compound from the natural product) which targeted at glycolytic metabolism.
• The crude extracts or traditional Chinese medicines (individual herbs or herbal formulas) can affect the glycolytic pathway of cancer cells.
• The synthetic molecules derived from natural products with glycolysis-regulating activities.
• The new contribution in target determination or underlying mechanism clarification will be given priority.
Note: As many anticancer drugs working as cytotoxic compounds have non-selective effects annihilating their potential therapeutic benefits, manuscripts are advised to provide evidence of a significant selectivity towards cancer cells (vs. healthy cells). Specifically, if the studied anticancer drug or modality does not target an oncogenic pathway, the authors should make every effort possible to prove that the cytotoxic or cytostatic effects they have identified exhibit selectivity for cancer cells (ideally 1 log difference in EC50 or IC50) vs. non-malignant cells (eg, fibroblasts or primary culture of cells).
Cancer is one of the most fatal diseases worldwide. The consistent escalation of cancer occurrences globally has issued a clarion call for developing effective treatment strategies against cancer. Early in the 1920s, Warburg first revealed the phenomenon that cancer cells demonstrate increased glycolysis to produce energy for proliferation compared to normal cells, which was called the Warburg effect, and it happened despite the existence of oxygen. Meanwhile, in order to meet the increased glycolysis needs, cancer cells required the overexpression of glucose transporter (GLUT) proteins, and key glycolysis-associated enzymes (such as hexokinase 2, pyruvate kinase M2, pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase and lactate dehydrogenase A) and the accelerated glycolysis flux. Inhibition with glycolysis in tumor cells has been proposed as a novel approach for the treatment of cancer.
Natural products (crude extracts or pure compounds) are a crucial resource for finding new anti-cancer drugs, which have the characteristics of multiple targets and minimal adverse effects. Blocking glycolytic metabolism is widely used in the treatment of cancer and other metabolic diseases. It also can be achieved by natural products through the interference of GLUTs or glycolytic enzymes in different pathways, such as silibinin and micheliolide. Silibinin, a natural flavonoid which has been revealed as a GLUT inhibitor, is ongoing clinical trials for prostate cancer. ACT001, the prodrug of micheliolide which is a sesquiterpene lactone and PKM2 activator, has been approved as an orphan drug for the treatment of glioblastoma by the FDA. In this research topic, our goal is to unlock new possibilities for cancer treatment by regulating the glycolytic pathway and giving research ideas for discovering potential drugs from natural products.
This Research Topic focuses on natural products as the potential anti-tumor drugs via regulating glycolysis. At least two cancer cell lines should be used in your research work. In addition, for manuscripts dealing with plant extracts or other natural substances/compounds, the composition and the stability of the study material must be described in sufficient detail. In particular, for extracts, chromatograms with the characterization of the dominating compound(s) are requested. The level of purity must be proven and included. We welcome the latest research studies or reviews on the following themes, but are not limited to:
• The discovery and identification of natural products with novel structure and excellent bioactivity.
• The anti-tumor leading compound (especially for the pure compound from the natural product) which targeted at glycolytic metabolism.
• The crude extracts or traditional Chinese medicines (individual herbs or herbal formulas) can affect the glycolytic pathway of cancer cells.
• The synthetic molecules derived from natural products with glycolysis-regulating activities.
• The new contribution in target determination or underlying mechanism clarification will be given priority.
Note: As many anticancer drugs working as cytotoxic compounds have non-selective effects annihilating their potential therapeutic benefits, manuscripts are advised to provide evidence of a significant selectivity towards cancer cells (vs. healthy cells). Specifically, if the studied anticancer drug or modality does not target an oncogenic pathway, the authors should make every effort possible to prove that the cytotoxic or cytostatic effects they have identified exhibit selectivity for cancer cells (ideally 1 log difference in EC50 or IC50) vs. non-malignant cells (eg, fibroblasts or primary culture of cells).