The inflammation process under acute condition has a beneficial effect for tissue injury. Chronic inflammation, by contrast, is closely related with aging and its related pathologies including Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) and metabolic diseases. The aging cells (or called senescence cell) can secrete various pro-inflammatory factors defined as Senescence-Associated Secretory Phenotype (SASP) which have a deleterious effect on the tissue microenvironment. Indeed, cellular senescence-mediated SASP is highly involved in either CVD or metabolic pathologies. Therefore, pharmacological intervention is needed to reduce inflammation-aging and potentially prevent age-related cardiometabolic diseases. However, several established anti-inflammatory drugs, such as aspirin which has been established for managing CVD is are facing serious limitations such as bleeding risk, particularly in elderly patients. Therefore, the research community is looking at medicinal plants with anti-inflammatory activity which may be a source of good candidates for treating age-related diseases.
Medicinal plants are historically used as cultural medicine in various places around the world. Plants have traditionally been applied to treat health problems, including inflammation-related diseases. Several natural products have been identified and proved to have anti-inflammatory activity. Aspirin, the most common anti-inflammatory drug, is an example of translating medicinal plants into a modern pharmaceutical agent. Originated from willow bark, Egyptian and Sumerian used it as ethnopharmacology product for anti-inflammatory and pain-reliever. After that, the researchers found its active compound and modified into acetylsalicylic acid. Of note, several studies show that aspirin improves life- and health span (including CVD and metabolic disease) in the aged animal model. Even though the result was not satisfactory enough in the clinical trial, this lesson could reveal a new opportunity for anti-inflammatory compounds as candidates for novel anti-aging therapy. Therefore, an alternative approach to tackling age-related cardiometabolic diseases through alleviating inflammation is an emerging need in ethnopharmacology area.
In this Research Topic, we welcome high-quality research on inflammatory age-related cardiometabolic diseases (either in chronological advanced aged or premature aging condition), and how ethnopharmacology plays its role in this condition. We welcome the following subtopics, but not limited to:
• Novel (or repurposed) natural anti-aging agents with anti-inflammatory property.
• Novel (or repurposed) natural immunomodulatory agents for age-related cardiometabolic disease treatment.
• Novel (or repurposed) natural immunomodulatory agents for premature age-related cardiometabolic disease treatment.
• Molecular mechanism of medicinal plants and plant-derived natural products in the prevention and treatment of inflammation in the context of age-related cardiometabolic diseases.
• Methodology of isolation/testing/screening strategy for the discovery of novel anti-aging medicinal plants.
• Clinical updates on adjuvant treatments with medicinal plants on elderly people with cardiometabolic disease.
• Future directions for research on the anti-aging potential of established anti-inflammation natural products in the field of cardiometabolic research.
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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).
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