Adaptive Resistance to Targeted Cancer Therapies and Rational Development of Combination Therapies
A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Therapy".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2024) | Viewed by 957
Special Issue Editors
Interests: targeted therapies; signal transduction; breast cancer
2. Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, University College Dublin, Belfield, D04 V1W8 Dublin, Ireland
3. Department of Pharmacology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
Interests: systems biology; targeted therapies; resistance; structure-based modeling; cell state transitions
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Although genetic events are important determinants of resistance to molecularly targeted therapies, the sensitivity of tumors to drugs is also substantially shaped by the plasticity of tumor cells, which, through epigenetic mechanisms and remodulation of gene expression and through the complex dynamics of intracellular signaling networks, underlies adaptation to drug-induced perturbations. Drug resistance can be deciphered as an adaptation of a complex system to a perturbation affecting one or a few of its elements.
Adaptive resistance has been defined as a form of nongenomic resistance that intervenes rapidly and is potentially reversible and targetable. A thorough understanding of this form of resistance would facilitate the development of more effective therapies. Phenomena such as paradoxical activation of the ERK pathway by BRAF inhibitors, the rapid onset of BRAF inhibitor resistance in melanoma patients, the compensatory activation of one pathway following inhibition of a parallel pathway (e.g., PI3K/AKT and RAS/ERK), and the variable effects of targeted therapies on apoptosis and cellular senescence, underscore the importance of a thorough understanding of cancer cell responses to drugs. This underlies the rational development of effective drug combinations specific to any single tumor, aiming to avoid or delay the development of resistance.
This Special Issue will explore the phenomena of adaptive resistance to molecularly targeted therapies, with a systems perspective, to stimulate research in the area of rational drug combinations.
Dr. Andrea Rocca
Prof. Dr. Boris Kholodenko
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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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. Cancers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2900 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 therapies
- cancer drug resistance
- adaptive resistance
- signal transduction networks
- network adaptation
- cell state transitions
