Advancing Treatment for Brain Tumors

Dear Colleagues,

Brain tumors are among the leading causes of cancer death, and represent the second most common childhood cancer worldwide. Current treatment methods include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immune therapy, etc. However, few drugs or treatments have proven to be effective in brain tumor treatment due to the presence of blood–brain barriers and the distinctive tumor microenvironment. The development of therapy can be expediated by overcoming the unique challenges of brain tumors with representative pre-clinical tumor models and novel bioengineering approaches. 

Recent advancements in genomic sequencing have expanded and redefined the landscape of many tumor types. They provide a much deeper understanding of the heterogeneity of brain tumors, impacting both tumor diagnostic and treatment options. Personalized analysis and treatment, as reported with various patient-derived tumor models, have provided promising results in improving treatment efficacy. New bioengineering approaches in developing tumor models, as well as in perturbing the tumor microenvironment, provide new tools and intervention options. 

This Special Issue will cover studies that focus on personalized medicine approaches for brain tumor treatment, with a special interest in the integration of genomics and bioengineering.

Translational research focusing on brain tumors is welcomed:

- Brain tumor models representing molecular subtypes;

- Cell engineering approaches to represent or modify brain tumor molecular types;

- Comparative studies between brain tumor models (in vitro, ex vivo and xenograft) and patient data;

- Evaluation of different brain tumor model formats and their applications;

- Drug testing/screening studies based on patient-derived brain tumor models for personalized treatment;

- Drug/gene delivery to brain tumors in vitro or in vivo;

- Cell therapy approaches utilizing brain tumor models;

- Interrogation of the brain tumor microenvironment.

We hope to provide an interactive forum for brain tumor therapy development and diagnosis improvement by connecting the bioengineering and the neuro-oncology communities. This includes the following topics:

• New materials and techniques for modulating the brain tumor microenvironment;
• New bioengineering techniques for disrupting brain tumor and the tumor microenvironment;
• New genomic methods to guide brain tumor model development and applications;
• Translational studies that streamline and expediate the bench-to-bedside translation from model to drug discovery or treatment intervention.

Dr. Min D. Tang-Schomer
Dr. Joanna J. Gell
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.

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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.

• brain tumor model
• tumor microenvironment
• brain microenvironment
• personalized medicine
• xenograft model
• molecular profiling
• glioblastoma
• ependymoma
• medulloblastoma
• astrocytoma
• pediatric brain tumor