Bioactive Molecules

Cancer is a prevalent disease worldwide and is becoming worse over time. Although some advanced, effective cancer therapies have been developed, there are limitations in current treatments, including severe side effects for patients, tumor recurrence and metastasis, and the development of drug resistance. Therefore, identifying novel cancer-specific targets and developing more effective, less toxic therapeutics is of urgent clinical significance to improve the survival rate of cancer patients.

Bioactive molecules play an important role in regulating the processes of cancer cell growth and development. The bioactive molecules of interest in this Reprint include small chemical molecules from nature and biomolecules found in living organisms, as well as their synthetic family members. It is well known that many clinically used drugs are developed from plants; many nutrient molecules from functional foods have cancer-preventive and antitumor activities; and many biomolecules (such as proteins and nucleic acids) are anticancer drug targets or have tumor-suppressing activities. All of these findings have been or could be used to develop new strategies for preventing and treating various cancers.