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New Chemotherapeutics, Alternative Methods & Old Challenges

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 (15 November 2023) | Viewed by 4529

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Biophysics and Physiology, Center for Health Sciences, Federal University of Brazil, Teresina, Brazil
Interests: oncology; cytoplasmic signaling pathways; anticancer molecules; toxicology

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Guest Editor
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil
Interests: anticancer molecules; natural products; cell cycle

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Chemotherapy, combined or not with surgery and radiotherapy, remains the most important and recommended treatment of the most cancers. However, several drawbacks, like drug resistance and adverse side effects, have limited the adherence and success, though bad outcomes have also stimulated the search for new effective and more secure anticancer drugs. On the other hand, this requires huge institutional efforts and use of a high number of experimental animals, mainly mammals, to achieve such medications, which are used in diagnostics as well as treatments. Alternatives to the animals in testing serving the same purposes that using whole animals do have been available. From the public health point of view, and despite massive investing in oncology research and development from public and private sources, the translation of advances into medicines that substantially enhance the treatment of many cancers remains frustratingly slow even using mammals. Therefore, some doubts might arise. Are alternative methods really adequate? What are the key challenges in anticancer drug development, and how should they be addressed? Less toxic and more effective treatment designs are often the main reasons for drug development. Further, drug development i) offers the opportunity to identify therapeutics medications for the treatment of rare diseases, including some types of cancers, which are generally ignored by R&D marketing programs of pharmaceutical companies; ii) save time and money; iii) improve productivity, and iv) reduce the risks, number of mammals used and human/material resources associated for the development of new drugs and the distance between drug discovery and commercial availability.

Supervised by Dr. Paulo Michel Pinheiro Ferreira and Dr. Gardenia Carmen Gadelha Militão and assisted by Dr. José Roberto de Oliveira Ferreira, this Special Issue invites researchers to contribute with original or review articles focused on techniques for discovering and development of antitumor molecules/formulations considering the traditional and alternative pharmacological, toxicokinetic and toxicogenetic in vitro and in vivo tools to predict bioactivity, toxicity and clinical efficacy to make the P&D of anticancer drugs faster in order to improve patients’ survival, quality of life and reduction of organ-specific side effects.

Dr. Paulo Michel Pinheiro Ferreira
Dr. Gardenia G.C. Militao
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 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. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. 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

  • tumor chemoresistance
  • angiogenesis inhibition
  • solid tumors
  • in vitro models
  • failure predic-tion
  • cytoplasmic signaling pathways
  • lead antitumor molecules
  • in vivo toxicity
  • organ-specific side effects

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 2973 KiB  
Article
Identification and Clinical Significance of Pancreatic Cancer Stem Cells and Their Chemotherapeutic Drug Resistance
by Yu-Chi Kuo, Hao-Wei Kou, Chih-Po Hsu, Chih-Hong Lo and Tsann-Long Hwang
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(8), 7331; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24087331 - 15 Apr 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2394
Abstract
Pancreatic cancer ranks in the 10th–11th position among cancers affecting men in Taiwan, besides being a rather difficult-to-treat disease. The overall 5-year survival rate of pancreatic cancer is only 5–10%, while that of resectable pancreatic cancer is still approximately 15–20%. Cancer stem cells [...] Read more.
Pancreatic cancer ranks in the 10th–11th position among cancers affecting men in Taiwan, besides being a rather difficult-to-treat disease. The overall 5-year survival rate of pancreatic cancer is only 5–10%, while that of resectable pancreatic cancer is still approximately 15–20%. Cancer stem cells possess intrinsic detoxifying mechanisms that allow them to survive against conventional therapy by developing multidrug resistance. This study was conducted to investigate how to overcome chemoresistance and its mechanisms in pancreatic cancer stem cells (CSCs) using gemcitabine-resistant pancreatic cancer cell lines. Pancreatic CSCs were identified from human pancreatic cancer lines. To determine whether CSCs possess a chemoresistant phenotype, the sensitivity of unselected tumor cells, sorted CSCs, and tumor spheroid cells to fluorouracil (5-FU), gemcitabine (GEM), and cisplatin was analyzed under stem cell conditions or differentiating conditions. Although the mechanisms underlying multidrug resistance in CSCs are poorly understood, ABC transporters such as ABCG2, ABCB1, and ABCC1 are believed to be responsible. Therefore, we measured the mRNA expression levels of ABCG2, ABCB1, and ABCC1 by real-time RT-PCR. Our results showed that no significant differences were found in the effects of different concentrations of gemcitabine on CSCs CD44+/EpCAM+ of various PDAC cell line cultures (BxPC-3, Capan-1, and PANC-1). There was also no difference between CSCs and non-CSCs. Gemcitabine-resistant cells exhibited distinct morphological changes, including a spindle-shaped morphology, the appearance of pseudopodia, and reduced adhesion characteristics of transformed fibroblasts. These cells were found to be more invasive and migratory, and showed increased vimentin expression and decreased E-cadherin expression. Immunofluorescence and immunoblotting experiments demonstrated increased nuclear localization of total β-catenin. These alterations are hallmarks of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Resistant cells showed activation of the receptor protein tyrosine kinase c-Met and increased expression of the stem cell marker cluster of differentiation (CD) 24, CD44, and epithelial specific antigen (ESA). We concluded that the expression of the ABCG2 transporter protein was significantly higher in CD44+ and EpCAM+ CSCs of PDAC cell lines. Cancer stem-like cells exhibited chemoresistance. Gemcitabine-resistant pancreatic tumor cells were associated with EMT, a more aggressive and invasive phenotype of numerous solid tumors. Increased phosphorylation of c-Met may also be related to chemoresistance, and EMT and could be used as an attractive adjunctive chemotherapeutic target in pancreatic cancer. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Chemotherapeutics, Alternative Methods & Old Challenges)
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Review

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12 pages, 516 KiB  
Review
Immune Reactions in Major Types of Oncological Treatment
by Patrycja Kozubek, Julia Wołoszczak and Krzysztof Gomułka
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(14), 11257; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241411257 - 9 Jul 2023
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Abstract
In recent years, there has been a noticeable development in oncological treatment, including chemotherapy and biological treatment. Despite their significant effectiveness, they are not free from side effects, such as allergic and dermatological reactions. These reactions can vary in severity and outcome, including [...] Read more.
In recent years, there has been a noticeable development in oncological treatment, including chemotherapy and biological treatment. Despite their significant effectiveness, they are not free from side effects, such as allergic and dermatological reactions. These reactions can vary in severity and outcome, including potential death. Examples, among others, are type I-IV hypersensitivity reactions of various origins and skin reactions including rashes, itching and redness, but also severe cutaneous syndromes. Due to the therapy used, these may include Stevens–Johnson syndrome, toxic epidermal necrolysis, drug rash with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms, drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome and acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis. In some cases, it is necessary to interrupt therapy, which may result in a poorer outcome and shorten the patient’s survival. This paper reviews various types of research documents published since 2016. It aims to systematize the latest knowledge and highlight the need for further research into ways to avoid adverse reactions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Chemotherapeutics, Alternative Methods & Old Challenges)
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