Mechanisms of Cancer Cells Survival and the Cancer-Host Interaction: Recent Advances in Therapeutic Targeting
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 (31 May 2023) | Viewed by 8996
Special Issue Editor
Interests: cancerogenesis (novel molecular mechanisms); nutrigenomics and epigenetics (histone modification and cell signaling cascade enzymes and transcriptional factors); functional food and biochemistry; enzyme structure in relation to their inhibitors; toll-like receptors and autoimmune and immunoinflammatory diseases: relation to nucleic acids as ligands (MyD88, NF-kB, CD26, Caspase1 pathway); cytokines and interferons (IFN-alpha pathway and RNase activity); free radicals, antioxidants, oxidative modification and glycation of of biomolecules, role of Nf-kB and p66 pathway; diabetes mellitus, DPP-4 inhibitors and DAMP molecules; programmed cell death - miRNAs metabolism; enzymes of nucleic acid metabolism (5’-nucleotidase, adenosine deaminase, DNase, RNase, AMP deaminase, HGPRT transferase, xanthine oxidase/reductase ratio); circulating nucleotides and purines in cardiovascular diseases and hypertension (ATP, ADP, AMP, xanthine oxidase/reductase ratio, uric acid); free-radical induced oxidative modification of biomolecules (protein oxidative modification-AOPP, enzyme oxidative modification mechanisms, lipid peroxidation, DNA modification); cell signaling pathaws and toll-like receptors and antiviral signaling (MyD88, RIG-1, RIP, MDA-5, IFN-3, IFN-7); growth factors and cytokines: interaction in cell proliferation, apoptosis and neoplastic transformation (AKT kinase, ERK kinase, IRAK kinase, MAP kinase, STAT 3); physiological regulation of purine metabolism and alteration in different diseases; tissue regeneration; rare disease diagnostics
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Aberrant cell proliferation and differentiation, resistance to apoptosis, activated immune-escaping mechanisms, xenophagy, sterile inflammation, and inflammatory cell-derived reactive oxygen species liberation, are the pathogenic hallmarks of carcinogenesis and cancer cell survival. Carcinomas, defined as malignancies of epithelial tissues, are responsible for about 80–90% of solid cancers, found in "solid" organs (lung, prostate, breast, colon, melanoma, bladder, or kidney), while hematological malignancies (acute leukemias, chronic myeloid neoplasms, B- and T-cell lymphomas, multiple myeloma) represent the types of blood (liquid tissue) malignancies.
The supply and digestion of surrounding metabolic substrates from necrotic cells may be a unique mechanism of cancer cells survival, defined as cannibalism or xenophagy, as an avenue of the biological interactions between cancer cells and their immediate surroundings. It occurs by the phagocytic-like acquired scavenging activity of cancer cells, known as the “escamotage“ property. Among the well-recognized substrates for xenophagy are proteins and other metabolic substrates. In addition to the surrounding cells, tumor cells can also degrade different immune cells, such as CD8+ lymphocytes, contributing to the reduction in immunity. The expectations of the fundamental role of cell acid hydrolases may be empirically accurate as a possible source of xenophagy and immunity-decreasing mechanisms within cancer cells.
In order to understand cancer cells survival and mechanisms of how to counteract metabolic demands of cancer cells and enabling host survival, as two (different) areas of research, up to date knowledge about both processes and cancer–host interaction should be a prerequisite. Although, in solid cancers, surgical interventions and chemotherapy are the most common life-prolonging treatments, in hematological malignancies thehematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) may be a therapy of choice.The acute myeloid leukemia (AML) represents the most common indication for allogeneic transplant. The use of specific free radical scavengers, chelators, and XO inhibitors as pharmacotherapy agents, tissue preconditioning, and the infusions of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been considered as possible treatment options. Stem cells play an important therapeutic option, exerting the anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and regenerative potential. A critical element in the outcome depends on the immune reactions responsible for the process of allograft rejection. From the other side, the influence on pro-/anti-oxidative state and on pH environment may be important modulators of cancer cell survival or host survival. How to kill a cancer cell without drastically harming the host seems to be a main imperative of cancer treatment.
Articles referring tumor cell‐specific molecules, immune response, mechanism of xenophagy, and new cell‐specific targets for cancer treatment will be considered.
Potential topics may include the following:
- Cancer cell survival—new approaches;
- The assessment of enzymes responsible for autophagy and xenophagy;
- Cancer growth, local invasion, and distant metastases in light of new markers of cell survival, neo-angiogenesis, cancer cell homing, and survival; the capacity for cancer cell self-renewal and differentiation;
- Cancer stem cells (CSC) markers for tumor progression;
- Allogeneic stem cell transplantation in hematological malignancies;
- Cancer cell survival in light of new therapeutic interventions;
- Cancer cell survival and immune cell interaction.
Prof. Dr. Gordana Kočić
Guest Editor
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