Novel Anticancer Agents: Molecular Mechanisms of Response and Resistance

A special issue of Biomedicines (ISSN 2227-9059). This special issue belongs to the section "Drug Discovery, Development and Delivery".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 9823

Special Issue Editors

Department of Experimental Oncology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy
Interests: cancer genomics; immunotherapy; phase 1 trials; clinical trial design
Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry & Immunology, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30310, USA
Interests: cancer; drug resistance; natural compound, chemotherapeutics; targeted therapy; drug delivery; nano therapy; 3D model; hypoxia; apoptosis; cell cycle; EMT
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The practice of oncology has been revolutionized by the advent of novel classes of drugs in the last decade: small molecules, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and antibody-drug conjugates. Despite the spectacular improvements in outcome allowed by these agents, primary or secondary resistance occurs in most patients, and the identification of predictive biomarkers remains a priority for cancer research. Biomarker identification has been favored by dramatic technological advancements, such as next-generation sequencing, proteomics and metabolomics, the development of increasingly sophisticated preclinical modeling systems such as organoids and patient-derived xenografts, and the development of computational methods for analyzing biomolecular data (bioinformatics).

This special issue will collect novel findings and reviews on established and novel biomarkers of response and resistance to anticancer drugs

Dr. Luca Mazzarella
Dr. Santosh Kumar Singh
Guest Editors

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. Biomedicines 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 2600 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.

Keywords

  • targeted therapy
  • biomarker
  • immunotherapy
  • antibody-drug conjugate
  • bioinformatics
  • genomics
  • metabolomics
  • proteomics
  • organoid
  • patient-derived xenografts
  • resistance

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Review

10 pages, 864 KiB  
Review
Clinical Implication of Metformin in Relation to Diabetes Mellitus and Ovarian Cancer
by Santosh Kumar Singh, Tejumola Apata, Shriti Singh, Melayshia McFadden and Rajesh Singh
Biomedicines 2021, 9(8), 1020; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/biomedicines9081020 - 16 Aug 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3950
Abstract
Since multiple reports established an association between diabetes mellitus and various cancers, emerging studies have surfaced to understand the effects of metformin as an anti-cancer agent. Although there was previous, but conflicting evidence, of a relationship between diabetes and ovarian cancer (OvCa), recent [...] Read more.
Since multiple reports established an association between diabetes mellitus and various cancers, emerging studies have surfaced to understand the effects of metformin as an anti-cancer agent. Although there was previous, but conflicting evidence, of a relationship between diabetes and ovarian cancer (OvCa), recent studies have supported this association. The mechanism of cancer development in patients with diabetes is likely to involve hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, chronic inflammation, reactive oxygen species, regulation of cellular homeostasis, and activation of various pathways that lead to tumor cell proliferation. Preclinical evidence indicating that metformin, a medication commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus, may protect against OvCa. Metformin exerts anti-cancer properties by activating the MAPK pathway, inhibiting the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, increasing tumor suppressor genes, inducing G2/M cycle arrest, and various other processes. Several studies have shown the efficacy of metformin as an adjunct with standard chemotherapeutic agents due to its synergistic effects on OvCa cells. This review highlights the epidemiologic evidence supporting a link between diabetes and OvCa, the fundamental molecular mechanism underlying carcinogenesis in patients with diabetes, the anti-cancer effects of metformin, and the need for further clinical investigations on combination therapies with metformin and standard chemotherapeutic agents for OvCa. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

21 pages, 1579 KiB  
Review
Molecular Mechanisms of Resistance to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Melanoma Treatment: An Update
by Sonja Vukadin, Farah Khaznadar, Tomislav Kizivat, Aleksandar Vcev and Martina Smolic
Biomedicines 2021, 9(7), 835; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/biomedicines9070835 - 18 Jul 2021
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 4942
Abstract
Over the past decade, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have revolutionized the treatment of advanced melanoma and ensured significant improvement in overall survival versus chemotherapy. ICI or targeted therapy are now the first line treatment in advanced melanoma, depending on the tumor v-raf murine [...] Read more.
Over the past decade, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have revolutionized the treatment of advanced melanoma and ensured significant improvement in overall survival versus chemotherapy. ICI or targeted therapy are now the first line treatment in advanced melanoma, depending on the tumor v-raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B1 (BRAF) mutational status. While these new approaches have changed the outcomes for many patients, a significant proportion of them still experience lack of response, known as primary resistance. Mechanisms of primary drug resistance are not fully elucidated. However, many alterations have been found in ICI-resistant melanomas and possibly contribute to that outcome. Furthermore, some tumors which initially responded to ICI treatment ultimately developed mechanisms of acquired resistance and subsequent tumor progression. In this review, we give an overview of tumor primary and acquired resistance mechanisms to ICI and discuss future perspectives with regards to new molecular targets and combinatorial therapies. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop