Genetics of Cancer Immunology

Dear Colleagues,

• Background & history of this topic:

The genetic basis of cancer immunology is central to understanding tumor–immune interactions, immune evasion, and the development of immunotherapies. Various genetic alterations in both tumor cells and immune cells shape the immune response to cancer, influencing tumor progression, metastasis, and response to treatment. The concept of immune surveillance was introduced in the mid-20th century, proposing that the immune system can recognize and eliminate cancerous cells. This model, proposed in the early 2000s, describes how the immune system interacts with tumors in three phases—elimination, equilibrium, and escape. With advancements in genomics, researchers have identified key mutations, neoantigens, and immune checkpoints that regulate the tumor microenvironment. Genetic studies have contributed to the development of checkpoint inhibitors (e.g., anti-PD-1/PD-L1, anti-CTLA-4) and personalized cancer vaccines. High-throughput sequencing, single-cell omics, CRISPR-based gene editing, and spatial multiomic profiling have propelled our understanding of tumor–immune interactions and resistance mechanisms.

• Aim and scope of the special issue:

This Special Issue aims to cover all areas of the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying cancer immunology, highlighting recent breakthroughs and their translational potential. Its scope includes, but is not limited to, the genomic and transcriptomic profiling of tumor–immune interactions, the identification of tumor neoantigens and their role in immunotherapy, the genetics of immune evasion and resistance mechanisms to immunotherapy, germline and somatic mutations influencing immune response in cancer, CRISPR and gene-editing technologies for modulating immune responses, the tumor microenvironment (TME) in the genetic regulation role of non-coding RNAs, epigenetics, and chromatin remodeling in immune regulation, machine learning and computational approaches in immunogenetics, and translational and clinical studies focusing on genetic biomarkers of immunotherapy response.

• Cutting-edge research:

Some of the most exciting areas in the field include the following: single-cell genomics and spatial transcriptomics—understanding how the immune system interacts with tumors at the single-cell level, tumor mutational burden and neoantigen prediction—linking genetic alterations to immunotherapy response, microbiome and immune system interactions—investigating how gut microbiota influences genetic predisposition to immune-based therapies, synthetic immunology and genetic engineering—engineering T cells (e.g., CAR-T, TCR-T) and other immune components to improve therapeutic outcomes, the genomic basis of immunotherapy resistance—unraveling mutations and epigenetic changes that drive resistance and AI-driven biomarker discovery—and using artificial intelligence to discover new genetic signatures predictive of immune response.

• What kind of papers we are soliciting:

We welcome submissions of the following types of articles: novel findings on the genetics of cancer immunology, comprehensive overviews of recent advancements, emerging findings with high impact potential, innovations in genetic analysis, sequencing, or computational approaches, and research with direct implications for patient care.

Dr. Jing Yang
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. Genes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2600 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.

• tumor–immune interaction
• immunotherapy
• immune regulation
• immune evasion