Combating Cancer Stemness and Drug Resistance with Natural-Product Derived Lead Structures

Dear Colleagues,

Tumor development encompasses a complex interplay of abnormal cell proliferation and differentiation and a high degree of cellular heterogeneity and epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT). To date, targeted drug therapy and chemotherapy are the main pharmaceutical treatment options. However, long-term therapies usually lead to acquired drug resistance via multiple mechanisms resulting in poor prognosis. Recently, evidence has shown that cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a type of cancer cells with a great potential of self-renewal which play a huge role in tumor metastasis and drug resistance. Low sensitivity of cancer stem cells toward regular chemotherapy strategies is, amongst others, one important issue in the field of cancer remedy. Thus, the concept of elimination or “re-sensitization” of resistant cells within the heterogenous tumor cell population with natural compounds or synthetic derivatives to increase chemotherapy success rates by combating drug resistance and cancer stemness is promising.

This Special Issue of Molecules on “Combating Cancer Stemness and Drug Resistance with Natural-Product-Derived Lead Structures” will include articles and reviews focused on the most recent advances in the identification and pharmacological characterization of natural products or novel synthetic lead structures to target drug-resistant cancer cells and resistance-promoting tumor-associated cells within the tumor microenvironment or cancer stem cells.

Prof. Dr. Nicole Teusch
Dr. Komal Kalani
Guest Editors

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 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.

• multidrug resistance
• chemotherapy failure
• reversal of drug resistance
• tumor microenvironment
• cellular heterogeneity
• cancer stem cells
• epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT)
• metastasis
• apoptosis
• DNA damage response (DDR)
• autophagy
• epigenetics
• epigenetic regulation in cancer
• drug discovery
• natural products
• natural-product-derived lead structures
• structure–activity relationships
• virtual screening