Bioactive Natural Molecules and Traditional Herbal Medicine in the Treatment of Airways Diseases
1Universidade Federal do Triangulo Mineiro, Uberaba, Brazil
2Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, USA
3Universidade de Franca, Franca, Brazil
Bioactive Natural Molecules and Traditional Herbal Medicine in the Treatment of Airways Diseases
Description
The innate and adaptive immune systems, as well as structural cells, modulate the severity and duration of airway inflammatory response. Aberrant immune responses, including those induced by allergens, environmental pollutants, infectious or other noxious agents, can lead to excessive leukocyte recruitment and the production of proinflammatory cytokines, chemokines, and other immunomodulatory mediators which can initiate or sustain airway disorders. In recent decades, considerable progress has been made in the understanding of genetic and immunological factors that contribute to the development of airway disorders such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and acute lung injury. Unfortunately, current therapies and treatments for airway disorders have not advanced dramatically despite our advanced knowledge and are less than idea. Traditional herbal medicine and bioactive natural products are being used as therapeutic substitutes or as complementary treatments to augment existing therapies. The natural compounds found in these may have the potential to form the basis of new drugs for the treatment of diseases. In this issue, we take a particular interest in reviews and original papers that investigate the effects of bioactive natural molecules and traditional herbal medicines in clinical and preclinical (cellular or animal models) studies in prevention and treatment of airways diseases.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Preclinical and clinical assays evaluating traditional herbal medicine and their bioactive natural components with potential to be used in the prevention and treatment of airway disorders
- Ethnopharmacological studies of bioactive compounds used in the treatment of airways diseases
- Bioassays and chemical characterization of natural products which may be available to treatment of airway disorders
- Toxicity/safety of medicinal plants and bioactive natural products to be used in the airways treatment