Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020, or nearly one in six deaths. Although the burden of cancer has steadily increased, survival for patients with cancer has also improved in developed countries in response to better cancer prevention, screening, and treatment strategies. However, as patients are living longer, mortality from noncancer causes and secondary cancer-related deaths are increasing. Most of the cancers have an unknown cause, and some including smoking and by a combination of excess body weight, physical inactivity, excess alcohol consumption, and poor nutrition. Certain cancers caused by infectious agents, such as human papillomavirus (HPV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), could be prevented through behavioral changes, vaccination, or treatment of the infection.
Throughout history, natural products have played a dominant role in the treatment of human ailments. Presently, natural products comprise a large portion of current-day pharmaceutical agents, most notably in the area of cancer therapy (e.g., taxol, vinblastine, and camptothecin). These structurally unique agents function by novel mechanisms of action; isolation from natural sources is the only plausible method that could have led to their discovery. In addition to terrestrial plants as sources for starting materials, the marine environment (e.g., ecteinascidin 743, halichondrin B, and dolastatins), microbes (e.g., bleomycin, doxorubicin, and staurosporin), and slime molds (e.g., epothilone B) have yielded remarkable cancer chemotherapeutic agents. Natural product research is a powerful approach for discovering biologically active compounds with unique structures and mechanisms of action. Given the unfathomable diversity of nature, it is reasonable to suggest that chemical leads can be generated that are capable of interacting with most or possibly all therapeutic targets.
We welcome review articles and original research work addressing research related to treatment of cancer and associated complications using natural products. The manuscript should address, but not restricted to the following topics:
• Novel molecular mechanisms of herbal medicine in the prevention and treatment of cancer and associated complications
• Novel therapeutic targets of herbal medicine in the prevention and treatment of cancer and and its complications
• New cellular and molecular mechanism of plant based therapeutic agents.
• Pre-clinical and clinical updates of plant-based agents with evidence on its celular and molecular mechanisms.
• Phyto-pharmacological evidences and molecular mechanism.
• Ethnopharmacology evidences supported by the experimental models.
• Modified natural products for the cancer treatment.
• Safety issue (Toxicology studies) of natural products against cancer and its complications.
All interested contributors must first send the topic and abstract, to avoid any overlaps.
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).
Keywords: natural products, medicinal plants, anti-cancer drugs, pharmacological mechanisms, modified natural products
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020, or nearly one in six deaths. Although the burden of cancer has steadily increased, survival for patients with cancer has also improved in developed countries in response to better cancer prevention, screening, and treatment strategies. However, as patients are living longer, mortality from noncancer causes and secondary cancer-related deaths are increasing. Most of the cancers have an unknown cause, and some including smoking and by a combination of excess body weight, physical inactivity, excess alcohol consumption, and poor nutrition. Certain cancers caused by infectious agents, such as human papillomavirus (HPV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), could be prevented through behavioral changes, vaccination, or treatment of the infection.
Throughout history, natural products have played a dominant role in the treatment of human ailments. Presently, natural products comprise a large portion of current-day pharmaceutical agents, most notably in the area of cancer therapy (e.g., taxol, vinblastine, and camptothecin). These structurally unique agents function by novel mechanisms of action; isolation from natural sources is the only plausible method that could have led to their discovery. In addition to terrestrial plants as sources for starting materials, the marine environment (e.g., ecteinascidin 743, halichondrin B, and dolastatins), microbes (e.g., bleomycin, doxorubicin, and staurosporin), and slime molds (e.g., epothilone B) have yielded remarkable cancer chemotherapeutic agents. Natural product research is a powerful approach for discovering biologically active compounds with unique structures and mechanisms of action. Given the unfathomable diversity of nature, it is reasonable to suggest that chemical leads can be generated that are capable of interacting with most or possibly all therapeutic targets.
We welcome review articles and original research work addressing research related to treatment of cancer and associated complications using natural products. The manuscript should address, but not restricted to the following topics:
• Novel molecular mechanisms of herbal medicine in the prevention and treatment of cancer and associated complications
• Novel therapeutic targets of herbal medicine in the prevention and treatment of cancer and and its complications
• New cellular and molecular mechanism of plant based therapeutic agents.
• Pre-clinical and clinical updates of plant-based agents with evidence on its celular and molecular mechanisms.
• Phyto-pharmacological evidences and molecular mechanism.
• Ethnopharmacology evidences supported by the experimental models.
• Modified natural products for the cancer treatment.
• Safety issue (Toxicology studies) of natural products against cancer and its complications.
All interested contributors must first send the topic and abstract, to avoid any overlaps.
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).
Keywords: natural products, medicinal plants, anti-cancer drugs, pharmacological mechanisms, modified natural products
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
