Novel Strategies in Drug Development Against Multifactorial Diseases

The complexity of multifactorial diseases such as inflammation, cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, and infectious pathologies represents a key obstacle in the success of therapeutic intervention. Acquired drug resistance against molecular targeted therapies harnesses this biological complexity, resulting in treatments becoming ineffective over time. In this context, multitargeting compounds can be a remarkable strategy in multifactorial disease treatment and in tackling drug resistance mechanisms. Indeed, in contrast to drugs that bind to a single target, the modulation of multiple macromolecules gives rise to additive and synergistic properties with the advantage of reduced side effects.

Despite the great potential of multitargeting drugs to treat multifactorial diseases, a limited number of these compounds have reached clinical trials or market. The selection of the right target combination and the design and identification of molecules endowed with a multi-bioactive profile, particularly challenging for unrelated targets, plays a key role in successful drug development. Thus, novel theoretical, chemical, biological, and biophysical approaches are urgently required when developing new effective therapeutic tools toward the treatment of multifactorial diseases.

This Research Topic aims to gather relevant and innovative research advances in the field of multifactorial disease drug development. Both Original Research articles and Reviews are welcome for submission. Areas to be covered in this Research Topic may include, but are not limited to:

 • Design, synthesis, and optimization of novel therapeutics for multifactorial diseases
 • Computational and experimental structural investigation of ligand-macromolecule systems for structure-activity relationship analysis
 • Discovery methods for bioactive molecules from synthetic and natural sources
 • Development and application of computational biology and biophysical screening approaches
 • Drug repurposing
 • Pharmacokinetic and metabolic profiling for bioactive molecules against multifactorial diseases

Keywords: multifactorial disease, drug discovery, drug resistance, biochemistry, drug repurposing

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.