The interest in the consumption of health-promoting foods has led to identifying derivatives of the wine industry as products to increase the functional properties of different foods or to design new functional foods. The main goal of this study is to characterize and valorize byproducts and wastes of Sicilian grapes as new sources of bioactive components, from the perspective of a circular economy and a biorefinery approach. In particular, this research investigated: 1. the total phenolic content and antioxidant activities and 2. the phenolic profiles of free and bound fractions of defatted grape seeds and red grape skins from Sicily. Defatted grape seeds (DGS) and red grape skins (RGSK) are rich in phenolic compounds. Twenty biophenols were found in the defatted seeds and red grape skins. Particularly interesting were the results obtained after basic hydrolysis, which allowed the release of biophenols from the matrix. The degreased grape seeds showed p-coumaric acid levels at 4641.65 µg g⁻¹, gallic acid at 2649.23 µg g⁻¹, and caffeic acid at 1474.13 µg g⁻¹, along with appreciable quantities of myricetin, epicatechin, and quercetin. As a sustainable approach, the reuse and the value added of the byproducts and wastes of grapes grown in Sicily is shown, which makes possible new applications in different fields, i.e., nutraceuticals.

Among the Sicilian economic productive sectors, that of wine production has today a considerable economic value. However, with the growth of this sector, notable was the increase in the production of waste, which to date is not only an economic damage for companies, but also a threat to the environment. It is known that waste from wine production has properties (e.g., antioxidants) which have potential reuse at cosmetic, pharmaceutical and nutritional levels to obtain economically sustainable applications. A new goal is given by the recovery of added value compounds from agri-food wastes and by-products. Grape seed oil is a promising vegetable fat and cold pressing does not involve the use of chemicals, which are harmful to health. It implies that cold-pressed seed oils may contain phytochemicals, as well as natural antioxidants, more than refined oils. In this context, this works aims at studying the chemical characterization (triglycerides profile and composition in fatty acids) of grape seed oils obtained from Soxhlet and cold pressed extraction from Sicilian red grape seeds and white grape seeds. The possibility of obtaining high yields of triglycerides and fatty acids from the waste of wine production through new extraction methods would open up new perspectives for the reuse of waste in a human and animal food context. The results of this work allow the opening up of new perspectives to reuse and then reduce these wastes, helping not only to reduce the damage to the environment and costs for companies but also to create a new product that is environmentally sustainable and with an important economic value.

The fight against cancer represents a great challenge for researchers and, for this reason, the search for new promising drugs to improve cancer treatments has become inevitable. Oceans, due to their wide diversity of marine species and environmental conditions have proven to be precious sources of potential natural drugs with active properties. As an example, in this context several studies performed on sponges, tunicates, mollusks, and soft corals have brought evidence of the interesting biological activities of the molecules derived from these species. Also, echinoderms constitute an important phylum, whose members produce a huge number of compounds with diverse biological activities. In particular, this review is the first attempt to summarize the knowledge about starfishes and their secondary metabolites that exhibited a significant anticancer effect against different human tumor cell lines. For each species of starfish, the extracted molecules, their effects, and mechanisms of action are described.

The collective migration of cells is a complex integrated process that represents a common theme joining morphogenesis, tissue regeneration, and tumor biology. It is known that a remarkable amount of secondary metabolites produced by aquatic invertebrates displays active pharmacological properties against a variety of diseases. The aim of this review is to pick up selected studies that report the extraction and identification of crude extracts or isolated compounds that exert a modulatory effect on collective cell locomotion and/or skin tissue reconstitution and recapitulate the molecular, biochemical, and/or physiological aspects, where available, which are associated to the substances under examination, grouping the producing species according to their taxonomic hierarchy. Taken all of the collected data into account, marine invertebrates emerge as a still poorly-exploited valuable resource of natural products that may significantly improve the process of skin regeneration and restrain tumor cell migration, as documented by in vitro and in vivo studies. Therefore, the identification of the most promising invertebrate-derived extracts/molecules for the utilization as new targets for biomedical translation merits further and more detailed investigations.

The World Health Organization has recently underlined the increasing global burden of cancer, with a particularly alarming impact on underserved populations. In recent years, 1,3,4-thiadiazole has emerged as a versatile pharmacophore to obtain bioactive compounds. The pharmacological properties of this ring are primarily attributed to its role as a bioisostere of pyrimidine, the core structure of three nucleic bases. This structural feature endows 1,3,4-thiadiazole derivatives with the ability to interfere with DNA replication processes. Additionally, the mesoionic behavior of this heterocycle gives it important properties, such as the ability to cross biological membranes and interact with target proteins. Noteworthy, in analogy to the other sulfur heterocycles, the presence of C-S σ* orbitals, conferring small regions of low electron density on the sulfur atom, makes interaction with the target easier. This review focuses on the most promising anticancer agents with 1,3,4-thiadiazole structure reported in the past five years, providing information that may be useful to medicinal chemists who intend to develop new anticancer derivatives.