Redox Pharmacology in Pulmonary Disease: Targeting Oxidative Stress, Inflammation, and Environmental Hazard

Redox biology and oxidative stress are at the core of many pulmonary diseases, from asthma, COPD, and pulmonary fibrosis to acute lung injury and lung cancer. Persistent oxidative imbalance and inflammation, often exacerbated by environmental hazards such as air pollution, heavy metals, and micro/nanoplastics, drive disease progression, alter immune responses, and complicate therapy. Novel research highlights the importance of targeting these pathways to improve patient outcomes.

Exciting advances feature plant-derived antioxidants (such as flavonoids and vitamin E isoforms), nano-formulated therapeutics, precision medicine strategies, and new insight into how environmental toxins aggravate redox dysfunction. Understanding these interactions can pave the way for breakthrough therapies and new diagnostic tools in respiratory science.

This Research Topic seeks to bring together current discoveries and future directions for targeting redox pathways and oxidative stress in pulmonary disease.

This collection will cover (but is not limited to):

• Flavonoids and Natural Antioxidants:
Roles of flavonoids and polyphenols (e.g., luteolin, tangeretin) in reducing oxidative stress and inflammation; Gamma-tocopherol (vitamin E) and other nutritional antioxidants in lung disease and cancer prevention. Here particular efforts need to be made to assess whether such metabolites are 'pan assay interfering compounds’. These cannot be considered to be of pharmacological or clinical relevance, if the data are large based on in vitro assays or in silico data.'

• Novel Antioxidant and Redox-Modulating Therapies:
Curcumin nano-formulations, functional foods, and therapeutic nutraceuticals; Nanoenzymes, modified pectins, selenium nanoparticles, and other innovative drug delivery systems

• Environmental Hazards and Pulmonary Redox Biology:
Impact of micro- and nanoplastics, ozone, air pollution, and heavy metals on lung health; Mechanisms linking environmental exposure to redox imbalance and disease risk

• Inflammatory and Cell Stress Pathways:
Nrf2/Keap1, HIF-1, BACH1, and related transcriptional networks; Redox regulation of immune responses and chronic inflammation; Ferroptosis, pyroptosis, and novel forms of regulated cell death in the lung

• Diagnostics, Biomarkers, and Imaging:
Redox-based biomarkers and predictive diagnostics for disease progression and treatment response; Molecular imaging of oxidative stress and inflammation in lung tissue

• Precision and Translational Medicine:
Clinical and translational studies of antioxidant and redox-targeted therapies; Personalized therapeutic approaches based on individual redox and metabolic profiles; Strategies to mitigate environmental risk in high-exposure populations

• Quality of Life and Long-Term Survivorship:
Impact of redox-modulating treatments on symptoms, survivorship, and quality of life; Long-term follow-up and care models for patients with chronic pulmonary diseases or lung cancer

Studies need to comply with the best practice guidelines of the section if plant or fungal extracts or other complex mixtures are investigated including the Four Pillars of Best Practice in Ethnopharmacology. A detailed description of the material studied, its extraction, and processing is essential. You can freely download the full version here. Please self-assess your MS using the ConPhyMP tool, and follow the standards established in the ConPhyMP statement Front. Pharmacol. 13:953205. Please note the traditional context including the primary background and modern uses with supporting references must be included in the manuscript introduction. Purely in silico approaches using complex mixtures (extracts) are generally not considered.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Redox Pharmacology, Oxidative Stress, Pulmonary Disease, Lung Cancer, Inflammation, Antioxidants and Flavonoids, Environmental Hazards, Precision Medicine

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.