Tumor development has been recognized as an evolving complex process, involving constant, dynamic, and reciprocal interactions between cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment (TME). The TME comprises all the non-cancerous host cells in the tumor, including fibroblasts, endothelial cells, neurons, adipocytes, adaptive, and innate immune cells, as well as its non-cellular components, such as the extracellular matrix (ECM) and soluble products such as chemokines, cytokines, growth factors, and extracellular vesicles.
Over the past decade, exosomes in the tumor microenvironment have gained increasing attention because it is linked to tumor initiation, progression, and metastasis. Cell-cell communication via extracellular vesicles (exosomes and microvesicles) between primary tumor cells and the microenvironment of distant organs is crucial for pre-metastatic niche (PMN) formation and metastasis. Growing evidence suggests that tumor-derived exosomes (TEXs) play critical roles in cancer. Exosomes and their cargos may serve as cancer prognostic markers, therapeutic targets, or even as an anticancer drug carrier, research is gradually focusing on exosomes to alter the tumor microenvironment.
Medicinal plants play a significant role in disease prevention and treatment, which showed beneficial effects in reducing recurrence or prolonging survival in cancer patients. A number of medicinal plants have regulatory effects on tumor microenvironment and exosomes, such as citrus-derived nanovesicles, asparagus-derived nanovesicles, curcumin, and cannabis extracellular vesicles showing the ability to regulate growth, proliferation, apoptosis, and secretion of exosomes from tumor cells. The combination of medicinal plants and anticancer therapies is more beneficial for clinical diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, there is a need for a large number of basic and clinical studies to characterize the mechanisms of action in order to eventually become evidence-based medicine. Especially, pharmacological studies to identify the active ingredients in medicinal plants and the role of active ingredients in cancer therapy based on the molecular targets of the model. In addition, the initiation of preclinical, toxicological, and clinical trials is indispensable.
In this Research Topic, authors are invited to submit Review or Original Research articles adopting a critical approach designed to robustly test the clinical efficacy (or otherwise), exosome-related mechanism, and safety of adequately-characterized medicinal plant and their encapsulated active ingredients in cancer.
The subtopics to be covered include, but are not limited to:
1. Reviews of high-quality literature testing the role of medicinal plants on exosomes in the tumor microenvironment.
2. The effect of medicinal plant and/or their active components on exosomes in the tumor microenvironment. (in vitro and in vivo studies).
3. Exosome-related target prediction of active ingredients in the medicinal plant for the treatment of cancer-based on network analysis if these are combined with a sound body of experimental pharmacological in vitro or in vivo work.
4. Randomized controlled trials or primary clinical data to evaluate the efficacy, or otherwise, of active ingredients in medicinal plant-derived exosomes for cancer.
Please note that the Article Types must conform to journal guidelines which can be found
here).
All the manuscripts submitted to this project will be peer-reviewed and need to fully comply with the
Four Pillars of Best Practice in Ethnopharmacology (you can freely download the full version
here). Importantly, please ascertain that the ethnopharmacological context is clearly described (pillar 3d) and that the material investigated is characterised in detail (
pillars 2 a and b ).
In particular, for network analysis studies, potential authors will have to comply with the following guidelines:
• In general, it is expected that network analysis will be conducted in combination with experimental pharmacological work or are based on a sound body of experimental work.
• Network analysis of mixtures (e.g., of extracts of a single botanical drug or a polyherbal preparation) is only considered if a specific experimental mechanism of action can be proposed for compounds with a relevant in vitro or in vivo activity
• Network analysis studies must critically assess the evidence to evaluate the potential pharmacological effects of a preparation/herbal (medical) product and the limitations of the evidence.
• The network must be represented in such a way that the underlying mechanism can be understood including a suitable visualization of the network and the individual data points.
• The identification of the compounds must be sound. This information may be derived preferably from benchwork or else from the existing literature. It is essential that the quantities of the compounds in the preparation or plant are stated and are high enough to be of pharmacological relevance.
• The bioavailability of the compounds must be assessed.
• Ubiquitous or very widely known compounds are highly unlikely to be “active”, especially in vitro assays. Therefore, in these cases, evidence for therapeutic or preventive benefits and mechanisms of action is essential.
• The major target found by transcriptomics or proteomics needs to be validated by other experimental techniques.