Dear Colleagues,

For decades, marine-derived drugs have played a crucial role in drug discovery development. The Nobel prize was awarded for the discovery of the natural drug Artemisinin, which has brought the therapeutic efficacy of natural product-derived chemicals into the spotlight in terms of their importance and re-established their application in clinical practice for the treatment of numerous diseases. Autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Sjogren syndrome, ankylosing spondylitis, inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis are increasingly becoming the primary cause of global health burdens. It is known that abnormal immune responses and inflammatory effects are implicated in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. Immune-related cells (traditionally, e.g., macrophages, dendritic cells, T cells and B cells, etc., and non-traditionally, e.g., glial cells, endothelial cells, epithelial cells, fibroblasts, synovial cells and liver cells, etc.), cytokines (TNF -alpha, IL-1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 17, BAFF, PGE, TGF-beta, etc.) and signal transduction (G protein-coupled receptors signaling, TNF-alpha- TRADD-TRAF2 signaling, Ras-MARPK- NF-κB signaling, BAFF-BAFFRs- -NF-κB signaling, etc.) play significant roles in the inflammatory immune responses of autoimmune diseases. Despite the efficacy of current pharmacologic strategies in the treatment of autoimmune diseases through the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (SAIDs), and disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), some of these regimens have shown undesirable effects including kidney injury, bleeding in NSAID treatment and the adverse effects of ulcers. Therefore, it is crucial to search for new sources such as marine sources that provide less undesirable side effects as well as new mechanisms of action. The therapeutic effect of these drugs succeeds by regulating inflammatory responses and the abnormal immune response involved in autoimmune diseases.

The aim of this Special Issue is to shed light on the role of marine-derived drugs and strengthen their application in clinical practice for the treatment of autoimmune diseases through regulating abnormal immune responses and inflammatory effects, which are involved in autoimmune diseases. We encourage the submission of original research articles (preclinical and clinical studies) and reviews that make a novel and substantial contributions to the scientific community.

Dr. Sherif T. S. Hassan
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Marine Drugs is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• marine natural products
• autoimmune diseases
• abnormal immune response
• inflammatory effects
• immune-related cells
• preclinical and clinical studies