Advances in Molecular Biology and Treatment of Thymic Epithelial Tumors
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Oncology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 September 2024) | Viewed by 6132
Special Issue Editor
Interests: cancer; biomarkers; molecular biology; immunohistochemistry; precision medicine
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Thymic epithelial tumors are considered the most common neoplasms of the thymus gland, representing, however, an extremely rare and heterogeneous type of tumor. They derive from the epithelial cells of the thymus gland and are broadly classified into thymomas and thymic carcinomas. On histological grounds, they are characterized by a combination of neoplastic epithelial cells and a non-neoplastic lymphoid component, admixed in various proportions.
The WHO classification further classifies thymic epithelial neoplasms based on the exact ratio differences in the epithelial and lymphocytic component, as well as the differentiation of epithelial cells towards the cortical or medullary epithelium. According to this nomenclature, there are six different subtypes, namely class A, AB, B1, B2, B3 and C. Type A tumors originate from the thymic medulla, type B from the thymic cortex, AB tumors are regarded as hybrids, while class C essentially refers to thymic carcinomas. The first four subtypes (A, AB, B1, B2) are considered as thymomas and show more benign biological properties. On the other hand, the B3 subtype represents an entity with intermediate biological characteristics, between the more benign thymomas and class C carcinomas.
The current first-line therapeutic approach for patients with early-stage thymic epithelial tumors is surgical resection. For patients with advanced-stage or incomplete resected tumors, there is a necessity for adjuvant therapy, currently consisting mostly of platinum-based chemotherapy. In this context, unraveling the molecular background of tumorigenesis in thymic epithelial neoplasms, allowing the identification of potential key targets for the development of new therapies, is of major importance.
This Special Issue aims to highlight the recent advances in molecular biology of this rare type of neoplasm in an effort to shed light on the biological mechanisms involved in the development and progression of thymic epithelial tumors, as well as to recognize potential novel targets of therapy.
For this purpose, we invite researchers to submit original research papers and high-quality comprehensive reviews to this Special Issue.
Dr. Georgia Levidou
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- thymic epithelial tumors
- thymomas
- tumor biology
- pathogenesis
- carcinogenesis
- biomarkers
- tumor microenvironment
- targeted therapy
- predictive markers
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