Genomic Insights and Translational Opportunities for Human Cancers

A special issue of Biomedicines (ISSN 2227-9059). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Biology and Oncology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2025 | Viewed by 1714

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033-0850, USA
Interests: bioinformatics; genomics; machine learning

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The field of cancer genomics has undergone a revolution in recent years with the advent of next-generation sequencing technologies and the development of new algorithms that can analyze large amounts of genomic information. These advances have enabled researchers to sequence cancer genomes with unprecedented accuracy, leading to new insights into the genetic basis of cancer, and opening up new avenues for cancer diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. By understanding the specific genetic mutations and transcriptomic changes that are present in a particular cancer, scientists can also develop more targeted and effective therapies. Additionally, liquid biopsies have gathered excitement for their potential utility in cancer detection, monitoring, and patient stratification. This Special Issue on genomic insights into human cancer focuses on the latest advances in cancer genomics, with an emphasis on the translational potential of these findings. The articles in this Special Issue will cover recent advances in cancer genomics, including: (i) advances in bioinformatics algorithms, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, and their application in cancer research; (ii) novel cancer biomarkers, particularly those pertaining to liquid biopsies; and (iii) other translational research relating to cancer.

Dr. Apostolos Zaravinos
Dr. Ilias Georgakopoulos-Soares
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • genomics
  • cancer genomics
  • biomarkers
  • machine learning
  • bioinformatics
  • liquid biopsies
  • cell-free DNA
  • cell-free RNA

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 1868 KiB  
Article
A Comparison of Tools That Identify Tumor Cells by Inferring Copy Number Variations from Single-Cell Experiments in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma
by Daisy J. A. Oketch, Matteo Giulietti and Francesco Piva
Biomedicines 2024, 12(8), 1759; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines12081759 - 5 Aug 2024
Viewed by 1089
Abstract
Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) technique has enabled detailed analysis of gene expression at the single cell level, enhancing the understanding of subtle mechanisms that underly pathologies and drug resistance. To derive such biological meaning from sequencing data in oncology, some critical processing must [...] Read more.
Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) technique has enabled detailed analysis of gene expression at the single cell level, enhancing the understanding of subtle mechanisms that underly pathologies and drug resistance. To derive such biological meaning from sequencing data in oncology, some critical processing must be performed, including identification of the tumor cells by markers and algorithms that infer copy number variations (CNVs). We compared the performance of sciCNV, InferCNV, CopyKAT and SCEVAN tools that identify tumor cells by inferring CNVs from scRNA-seq data. Sequencing data from Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients, adjacent and healthy tissues were analyzed, and the predicted tumor cells were compared to those identified by well-assessed PDAC markers. Results from InferCNV, CopyKAT and SCEVAN overlapped by less than 30% with InferCNV showing the highest sensitivity (0.72) and SCEVAN the highest specificity (0.75). We show that the predictions are highly dependent on the sample and the software used, and that they return so many false positives hence are of little use in verifying or filtering predictions made via tumor biomarkers. We highlight how critical this processing can be, warn against the blind use of these software and point out the great need for more reliable algorithms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genomic Insights and Translational Opportunities for Human Cancers)
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