Emerging Roles of Immune Cells in Cancer Development and Progression
A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Tumor Microenvironment".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2021) | Viewed by 33735
Special Issue Editors
Interests: cancer metastasis; intravital imaging; surgical engineering; biophotonics; biomarker development; microscopy
2. National Horizons Centre, Teesside University, Darlington DL1 1HG, UK
Interests: extracellular proteolysis; proteolytic enzymes; tumor microenvironment; cytokines; chemotherapy; clinical biomarkers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: Investigation of immune cell implication in cancer cell dissemination and metastasis; Investigation of chemotherapy-induced prometastatic lesions in the primary and secondary tumor microenvironments
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In recent years, it has become increasingly evident that the immune cell landscape is a critical constituent of the tumor microenvironment. On one hand, myeloid cells within the tumor microenvironment (e.g., macrophages, neutrophils, myeloid-derived suppressor cells), contribute significantly to the regulation of many steps of the metastatic cascade including: cancer cell invasion, migration, and intravasation; premetastatic niche formation; stem cell induction and maintenance; and growth and survival of metastatic cancer cells in secondary sites. On the other hand, cancer cells evade destruction by developing molecular and cellular strategies that alter immune responses so as to turn both innate (e.g., natural killer cells) and adaptive (CD8+ T lymphocytes) immune cells into unwitting supporters of the metastatic process. Moreover, recent data implicate complicated and reciprocal interactions among different subsets of immune cells, including the establishment of immunosuppressive milieus by myeloid cells to disrupt the infiltration and function of cytotoxic T cells in the tumor microenvironment. Altogether, these mechanisms orchestrate an immune microenvironment which may critically support a prometastatic phenotype.
Despite the vast number of studies exploring the mechanistic underpinnings of the role of immune cells in cancer metastasis, there are still challenges and unanswered questions in the field. Foremost, just how the wide variety of immune cell subsets within the local and systemic microenvironments can create a highly complex immune cell repertoire necessitates an in-depth understanding of the exact molecular pathways that regulate their phenotypes, functions, and contributions to metastasis. Further, primary and secondary tumor microenvironments each have novel immune cell subsets that are recognized to have unique properties and context-dependent functions that vary among the individual steps of the metastatic cascade. A thorough understanding of this pathobiology is paramount for the development of novel and efficient immunotherapies that are capable of specifically targeting prometastatic immune cell functions.
Thus, the conceptual theme of this Special Issue is centered around the molecular and cellular dissection of immune cell-mediated cancer invasion and metastasis. Our overarching aim also extends to highlighting novel therapeutic targets that help to overcome the devastating effects of metastatic disease.
Dr. David Entenberg
Dr. Panagiota Filippou
Dr. George Karagiannis
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 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. 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
- cancer
- metastasis
- tumor microenvironment
- immune cells
- dissemination
- therapeutic targets
- premetastatic niche
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.