About this Special Issue
The initiation, establishment, and further development of cancer occurs under complex physiological conditions wherein cancer cells undergo multiple rounds of selection, making them stringent in surviving adverse conditions. There is growing evidence to suggest that cancer cells interact with normal parenchyma cells, including tissue-specific fibroblasts, innate & adaptive immune cells, and endothelial cells, as they progress, functionally manipulating them to grow and metastasize. Thus, it is necessary to understand the complex relationship between cell types and their states in tumors to target cancer progression efficiently. It is important to determine and characterize the inter- & intracellular crosstalk and associated signaling pathways between cell types in the tumor microenvironment. Various cell types, including immune cells, endothelial cells, and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), together with cytokines, chemokines, and the extracellular matrix (ECM), make up the tumor microenvironment (TME). While certain cells in the TME have the potential to inhibit tumor development, others act synergistically with tumor cells to enhance tumor development.
Cancer immunotherapy has been a stepping stone in which host-immune cells can be targeted against tumor-specific antigens. However, previous studies report that tumor cells can evade host immune reactions through immune checkpoint targets. The interaction between immunosuppressive TME and tumor cells regulates various cellular processes, including tumor cell proliferation and metastasis. Pre-clinical & clinical investigations have provided ample evidence in support of using immune-checkpoint inhibitors to improve the prognosis of cancer patients. Checkpoint inhibitors targeting programmed cell death protein (PD-1), programmed death-ligand (PD-L1), and T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) have effectively restored antitumor immunity in multiple tumor types; however, with tolerable adverse-event profiles. Thus, there is a need to find desired and reliable biomarkers to inform patient-specific treatments and to better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the therapy resistance.
The multifaceted networking and therapeutic targets of various cell types within the tumor are currently being investigated under the following categories:
• Immune cells interface in the tumor microenvironment
• Cellular organization
• Genomic complexity
• Spatial Transcriptomics and proteomics to understand the disease pathology
• Single-cell RNA high throughput sequencing and profiling
• DNA methylation studies
• Computational methods for high throughput platforms to explore big data
• Basic research to translational research
• Clinical case studies for disease pathology
• Discovery and characterization of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors
Hence, understanding crosstalk between cells of the tumor microenvironment is important for enhancing the efficacy of current & future therapeutics and early disease diagnosis to improve the prognosis for cancer patients. We welcome review and original research articles and other perspective articles representing novel theory and translational research for patient benefit applicable to various fields of cancer biology, especially immune-based therapeutics.
For authors, please also review the journal's information regarding Author Guidelines and Article Processing Charges, or direct any questions to the Editorial Office: por@por-journal.com.
Abstract Deadline: 1 May 2023
Manuscript Deadline: 1 September 2023
Keywords: Immunotherapy, Tumor Microenvironment, Tumor Biology, Cancer Therapeutics
