Guest-edited by: Prof. Min Li, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC), USA
Dr. Yanis Boumber, Robert H Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, USA
BMC Medicine and BMC Cancer jointly present the "Targeted Therapies for Cancer" Collection
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Adenoma-adenocarcinoma transition is a key feature of colorectal cancer (CRC) occurrence and is closely regulated by tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) and CD8+ T cells. Here, we investigated the effect of the N...
Rezivertinib (BPI-7711) is a novel third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). This phase IIa study was part of a phase I/IIa study (NCT03386955), aimed to evaluat...
HL-085 is a selective, orally administered MEK1/2 inhibitor. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of HL-085 in patients with advanced melanoma harboring NRAS mutations.
This trial aimed to analyse the safety, effectiveness and transcriptomic characteristics of neoadjuvant toripalimab plus chemotherapy in II–III non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) combined with cytotoxic chemotherapy are highly effective in the treatment of advanced non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with EGFR mutat...
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has become an ideal and promising therapeutic method for fighting cancer, but its common application in clinical practice is prevented by the limitations of expensive devices in ligh...
Sorafenib is a multi-kinase inhibitor that shows antitumor activity in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. Sorafenib exerts a regulatory effect on immune cells, including T cells, natural killer cells and dendr...
Conteltinib (CT-707) is a potent second-generation anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) showing promising anti-tumor activities in preclinical studies. This study aimed to assess th...
Although immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have influenced the treatment paradigm for multiple solid tumors, increasing evidence suggests that primary and adaptive resistance may limit the long-term efficacy...
In the adjuvant setting of cancer treatment, de-escalation strategies have the goal of omitting or minimizing treatment in patients, without compromising outcomes. Historically, eligibility for adjuvant treatm...
The Correspondence to this article has been published in BMC Medicine 2023 21:344
The Correspondence to this article has been published in BMC Medicine 2023 21:343
Currently, immunotherapy is widely used in the treatment of various stages of non-small cell lung cancer. According to clinical experience and results of previous studies, immunotherapy as neoadjuvant therapy ...
The combination of oncolytic viruses (OVs) with immune checkpoint blockades is a research hotspot and has shown good efficacy. Here, we present the first attempt to combine oncolytic herpes simplex virus 2 (OH...
AZD0156 is an oral inhibitor of ATM, a serine threonine kinase that plays a key role in DNA damage response (DDR) associated with double-strand breaks. Topoisomerase-I inhibitor irinotecan is used clinically t...
The application of combination therapy for cancer treatment is limited due to poor tumor-specific drug delivery and the abscopal effect.
Structured and harmonized implementation of molecular tumor boards (MTB) for the clinical interpretation of molecular data presents a current challenge for precision oncology. Heterogeneity in the interpretati...
Radiotherapy (RT) is one of the major therapeutic approaches to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Ionizing radiation (IR) inducing the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) leads to a promising antitumor e...
Myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative neoplasms (MDS/MPN) comprise several rare hematologic malignancies with shared concomitant dysplastic and proliferative clinicopathologic features of bone marrow failure and ...
Although targeted agents have been gradually applied in the treatment of HER2-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in recent years, patients’ therapeutic demands are far from being met. PATHER2 was the firs...
Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is a rare type of cancer that occurs in the gastrointestinal tract. The majority of GIST cases carry oncogenic forms of KIT, the receptor for stem cell factor (SCF). Small...
Significant intertumoral heterogeneity exists as antitumor treatment is introduced. Heterogeneous therapeutic responses are conventionally evaluated by imaging examinations based on Response Evaluation Criteri...
Although cholesterol metabolism is a common pathway for the development of antitumor drugs, there are no specific targets and drugs for clinical use. Here, based on our previous study of sterol O-acyltransfera...
Intraductal carcinoma of the prostate (IDC-P) is a subtype of prostate cancer featured by poor prognosis. Previous studies suggested IDC-P could have a potentially unstable genome. Homologous recombination def...
At present, the extent and clinical relevance of epigenetic differences between upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) and urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) remain largely unknown. Here, we conducted ...
To investigate the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of apatinib delivered during and after intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
The FAST study identified claudin-18 (CLDN18.2) as a promising novel therapeutic target for gastric cancer (GC). However, the tumor immune microenvironment and clinicopathological features of CLDN18.2-positive...
The Correction to this article has been published in BMC Medicine 2023 21:369
Cisplatin resistance is one of the main causes of treatment failure and death in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). A more comprehensive understanding of the cisplatin resistance mechanism and the ...
Cytokines have been reported to alter the response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in patients with the tumor in accordance with their plasma concentrations. Here, we aimed to identify the key cytokines...
The Correction to this article has been published in BMC Medicine 2022 20:265
Deregulation of cell-cycle pathway is ubiquitously observed in human papillomavirus negative (HPVneg) head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Despite being an attractive target, CDK4/6 inhibition using pal...
Diverse genomic breakpoints of fusions that localize to intronic, exonic, or intergenic regions have been identified by DNA next-generation sequencing (NGS), but the role of exonic breakpoints remains elusive....
Thymic epithelial tumors (TETs) are rare malignancies and the treatment options are limited. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of apatinib, an angiogenesis inhibitor, in advanced TETs.
Anlotinib, an oral small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting VEGFR 1/2/3, FGFR 1-4, PDGFR a/β, and c-kit, had demonstrated prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) in refractory metastatic colorectal...
HER2-low breast cancers were reported to have distinct clinicopathological characteristics from HER2-zero; however, the difference in their genetic features remains unclear. This study investigated the clinica...
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a biologically diverse disease, with characteristics such as homologous recombination deficiency (HRD), gene mutation, and immune reactions. Japan Breast Cancer Research...
A significant subset of mismatch repair-deficient (dMMR)/microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) gastric adenocarcinomas (GAC) are resistant to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), yet the underlying mechanism...
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Sorafenib is the first-line treatment for advanced HCC, but the anti-cancer effects remain to be improved as indi...
Adding anti-angiogenics to neoadjuvant chemotherapy for localized gastric cancer is recognized as a promising strategy, but its clinical value remains to be defined.
Selinexor 80 mg combined with low-dose dexamethasone (Sd) demonstrated significant clinical benefit in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) who had disease refractory to a proteasome inhib...
Both changes in circulating lipids represented by a validated poor prognostic 3-lipid signature (3LS) and somatic tumour genetic aberrations are individually associated with worse clinical outcomes in men with...
HER2-low breast cancer (BC) is currently an area of active interest. This study evaluated the impact of low expression of HER2 on survival outcomes in HER2-negative non-metastatic breast cancer (BC).
Antagonizing the androgen-receptor (AR) pathway is an effective treatment strategy for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Here, we report the results of a first-in-human phas...
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide and is one of the leading causes of cancer death. The incidence, pathological features, and clinical outcomes in breast cancer differ by geographic...
Bevacizumab improves survival outcomes in women diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Pre-clinical data showed that the c-MET/VEGFR-2 heterocomplex negates VEGF inhibition through activation of c-MET...
There is currently a lack of effective treatments for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients harboring HER2 mutations. We examined the efficacy and safety of, and potential resistance mechanism to, pyrotinib...
Cabazitaxel improves overall survival (OS) in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients progressing after docetaxel. In this prospective study, we evaluated the prognostic role of CTC ge...
Surgical resection followed by chemo-radiation postpones glioblastoma (GBM) progression and extends patient survival, but these tumours eventually recur. Multimodal treatment plans combining intraoperative tec...
The Correction to this article has been published in BMC Medicine 2022 20:179
Central nervous system (CNS) metastases in patients with ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are a cause of substantial morbidity and mortality. Although alectinib had demonstrated promising intrac...
Depicting the heterogeneity and functional characteristics of the tumor microenvironment (TME) is necessary to achieve precision medicine for bladder cancer (BLCA). Although classical molecular subtypes effect...
The Commentary to this article has been published in BMC Medicine 2021 19:295
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is lethal and possesses limited therapeutic options. Platinum-based chemotherapy—with or without immune checkpoint inhibitors (anti-PDs)—is the current first-line therapy for SCLC...
The Commentary to this article has been published in BMC Medicine 2021 19:295
Multi-omics studies have shown a high and lack of common driver mutations in most thymomas (TH) and thymic carcinomas (TC) that hamper the development of novel treatment approaches. However, deregulation of ap...
In the existing next generation sequencing (NGS) system, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 19 deletion-insertion (19delins) is still interpreted into the category of EGFR exon 19 deletion (19del). H...
Dr. Min Li is Professor of Medicine, Surgery, and Cell Biology at The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC), and holds the George Lynn Cross Research Professorship and the Virginia Kerley Cade Endowed Chair in Cancer Treatment. He is the Assistant Dean for International Research Collaboration at College of Medicine, and Associate Director for Global Oncology at the NCI designated Stephenson Cancer Center (SCC). He is also Director of GI Cancer Research, and Vice Chair for Research at the Department of Surgery, and Co-Leader of Cancer Biology Program of SCC at OUHSC. He is a leading expert on pancreatic cancer (PC), and his research mainly focus on studying PC and brain tumor pathogenesis and developing new therapies. Dr. Li’s group is the first to identify a key zinc transporter ZIP4, which is aberrantly expressed in PC, and promotes cancer growth, cachexia, and metastasis. He has published more than 180 papers and has 3 active NIH R01 grants, and multiple private foundation grants.
Dr. Li is the council member of the International Association for Pancreatology (IAP), and councilor of the American Pancreatic Association (APA). He will be the President of APA in 2022. He received many awards such as the Outstanding Achievement Award of IAP, and the Provost Research Award. He is an Editorial Advisor for BMC Medicine.
Yanis Boumber, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Division of Hematology/ Oncology, Section of Thoracic Head and Neck Medical Oncology, at Northwestern University Cancer Center in Chicago. Dr. Boumber has previously worked as Assistant Professor in the Thoracic Section of the Department of Hematology/Oncology at the Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, USA.
Dr Boumber graduated from the Rostov State Medical University, Russia and qualified as MD in 1999. He received his PhD in cancer biology and molecular biology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Houston in 2005. He completed his medicine residency at Good Samaritan hospital, affiliated with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in 2010, and medical oncology and hematology fellowship at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2013.
His research interests include the investigation of signaling pathways and biological processes controlled by MSI2 and developing novel therapeutic approaches to target MSI2 in lung cancer. He joined the editorial board of BMC Cancer in 2016 as Deputy Section Editor. He serves as Senior Board Member since August 2020.
Over the past two decades, significant progress has been made in understanding the molecular mechanisms of cancer, which has led to the development of molecular targeted agents including tyrosine kinase inhibitors, antiangiogenic agents, cell cycle and signalling targeting compounds, PARP inhibitors, DNA methylation inhibitors and antibody-drug conjugates. For many cancers including leukaemia, melanoma, lung, colorectal and breast cancer, targeted therapies have transformed the repertoire of currently available treatments, such as Vemurafenib for BRAF mutated metastatic melanoma and Herceptin for HER2 overexpressing breast cancer. Yet, the responses to targeted therapies are only marginal and short-lived, since many cancers develop resistance leading to disease progression, in addition to patients experiencing toxic side effects and financial burdens associated with treatment.
To overcome the problems associated with tumour resistance, research is focused on developing combination strategies involving targeted therapies and next-generation inhibitors with enhanced efficacy and selectivity. At the same time, molecular approaches are warranted to identify biomarkers and select the most suitable patients to optimise benefit and minimise toxicity.
In recognition of the growing field of research, BMC Medicine and BMC Cancer come together to invite submissions of original research including but not limited to:
For more information about each participating journal, including article-processing charges, click on its title below. After submitting to a participating journal, each article will undergo that journal’s full standard peer review process.
BMC Medicine encourages submissions of front matter articles and original research including randomised clinical trials (phase I, I/II, II and III as well as positive or negative trials), clinical “Real World” studies, cost-effectiveness analysis, systematic reviews, medical imaging, genomic and serum biomarkers and translational research. For translational research we only consider studies that include patient cohorts or involves human samples. Please note that manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics, computational analysis, or predictions of public databases which are not accompanied by validation will not be considered. BMC Medicine does not consider case reports.
Guest Editors provided guidance on the scope of this collection and advised on commissioned content. However, they are not involved in editorial decision-making on papers submitted to this collection. All final editorial decisions are with the Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Lin Lee.
BMC Cancer encourages submissions of original research and study protocols reporting on randomised clinical trials (phase I, I/II, II and III as well as positive or negative trials), “Real World” studies, systematic reviews, medical imaging, genomic and serum biomarkers and translational research. BMC Cancer does not consider case reports. For pre-clinical and experimental research, we only consider studies that provide results validated in at least 3 relevant cell lines, preferably validated in at least one animal model. Please note that manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics, computational analysis, or predictions of public databases which are not accompanied by validation will not be considered.