Latest Progress in Cancer Cell Communications

Dear Colleagues,

Cells can communicate by interacting with each other or releasing soluble factors, and cell-to-cell communication plays a vital role in the cancer cell microenvironment. Discovering the different ways in which cancer cells communicate will uncover a greater number of options in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, such as microRNAs (miRNA) and extracellular vesicles. Many miRNAs are closely related to the development of cancer. For instance, the link between miR-155 with the tumor suppressor p53 and its role in therapy resistance have been identified. TGF‐β signaling exerts cancer suppression or promotion depending on the cancer stage. How a cancer cell switches from supporting the growth inhibition of TGF‐β toward growth promotion is mainly unknown.

We welcome articles addressing the following challenges in this field, among other relevant topics:

How metastatic cancer cells migrate out of the home base: Can every cell in a cell line population migrate in the same fashion? How do they decide to migrate collectively or individually using anterograde or retrograde movement? If cell variants exist in a single cell population, can diverse cells recognize each other? Do they migrate similarly or differently? Also, at what point does a metastatic cancer cell decide to migrate out of the home base, and how?

How metastatic cancer cells interact face-to-face with normal host cells: The reason why metastatic cancer cells migrate to a distant host site is largely unknown. Metastatic cancer cells may have difficulty landing on a new host site. It is essential to resolve the underlying mechanisms at the molecular level.

How far cells can sense each other: An unexplored area is how cancer cell diversity affects cell behavior upon encountering normal cells. For example, at a certain point of cell migration, cancer cells may undergo retrograde migration upon encountering host cells. New methodologies are needed to deal with this issue.

How can cancer and host cells attack each other by long- or short-range molecular missiles: This issue remains unresolved. Supporting evidence shows that cancer cell–host cell interactions may involve killing each other, likely through cytotoxic or signaling molecules.

Overall, this Special Issue aims to focus on the different ways cancer cells communicate with each other and how we can take advantage of these signals for new possibilities in treating and diagnosing cancer. Methodological studies focusing on new models and research techniques used to study these aspects are also welcome.

Dr. Nan-Shan Chang
Guest Editor

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. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. 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.

• cancer cell
• tumor microenvironment
• tumorigenesis
• signaling
• binding proteins
• miRNAs
• therapeutic target