Inflammation as well as many infectious diseases, such as sepsis, are still ongoing major health concerns. Although there have been considerable advances over the last decades when it comes to therapeutic strategies, as well as an increase in life expectancy as a result, we still face several hurdles that need to be addressed. Namely, the selection of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) bacterial strains or the adverse effects of several anti-inflammatory compounds are particularly acute, and so an ever-going discovery and development of novel molecules to deal with the challenges is warranted. For the past couple of years, an investigation of natural products (NPs) that originated from traditional medicine, through its use of medicinal plants, has been of high interest because such ancestral knowledge can reveal an important and valuable reservoir of active compounds with a high therapeutic potential. More recently, bioprospecting campaigns highlighted that marine natural products (MNPs) should be seen as valuable bioactive molecules as they have the potential to be used as new and effective pharmacological compounds in many different therapeutic areas of interest.
Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) in the Western Pacific are increasingly considered as the richest and most biodiverse areas on the planet. In this regard, New Caledonia and its large, underexplored, marine ecosystem comprised of lagoons, coral reefs and deep waters that can each harvest specific macro- and micro-organisms, as well as a remarkable flora and a high level of plants and fungi endemicity. It represents a unique territory where efforts to search for novel bioactive compounds is still ongoing.
The goal of this Research Topic is to discuss the potential of the Western Pacific as a biodiversity hotspot and highlight the major interests there are in the identification of novel molecules that can help the human body fight off inflammatory and infectious diseases.
With this Research Topic, we invite authors to submit Original Research, Review, Mini-Review, Perspective, Clinical Trial and Data Report articles that focus on any novel anti-infectious and anti-inflammatory properties of naturally occurring compounds. We welcome studies on the following themes, including but not limited to:
• Identification of novel anti-infectious and/or anti-inflammatory activities of compounds with a natural origin (marine or terrestrial).
• Development of innovative models or biological assays to investigate anti-infectious or anti-inflammatory compounds as well as screening strategies.
• Modulation of the production of inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-6 or IL-1ß, found in plant-or marine-derived extracts.
• Impact of natural products on viral life cycle or bacterial metabolism.
• Purification, modeling, and structure/function analysis of bioactive molecules of natural origin or of their structural analogues (by means of pharmacomodulation, platform molecules).
• Ethnobotanical description and analysis of the usage of terrestrial- or marine-derived compounds that can be found in Oceanic locations.
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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).
