National Cancer Research Month | A Message from the Editors-in-Chief of Cancers

As May is National Cancer Research Month, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all the authors who have contributed to Cancers (ISSN: 2072-6694). In particular, we would like to highlight some of the high-quality, high-impact, and innovative research findings published in the journal in the last year, which cover multiple key research areas, including primary prevention, early detection, advanced surgical techniques, and new therapeutic strategies in cancer treatment.

As researchers continue to work tirelessly against COVID-19, several publications have also demonstrated the effectiveness of anti-SARS-CoV-2-antibody vaccination in cancer treatment. Modulating the immune system for cancer immunotherapy remains an actively investigated area. Multiple studies show the effects of immune check inhibitors in cancer treatment, and novel predictive and prognostic biomarkers for multiple cancer types, as well as novel therapeutic approaches for cancer treatment, have also been described. Finally, reviews and research articles have reported the use of spatial omics, an emerging class of high-throughput technologies, to identify novel spatially resolved cancer biomarkers. You can see the list of papers, divided into categories, below:

1. Covid and Clinical Management of Cancer Patients

“Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Cancer Diagnoses in General and Specialized Practices in Germany”
Jacob, L. et al.

“Poor Neutralizing Antibody Responses in 132 Patients with CLL, NHL and HL after Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2: A Prospective Study"
Terpos, E. et al.

“Post-Vaccination Anti-SARS-CoV-2-Antibody Response in Patients with Multiple Myeloma Correlates with Low CD19+ B-Lymphocyte Count and Anti-CD38 Treatment”
Ghandili, S. et al.

2. Targeting Immune Check Point Molecules in Cancer Treatment

“Association between Immune Related Adverse Events and Outcome in Patients with Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Treated with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors”
Paderi, A. et al.

“LAG-3 Blockade with Relatlimab (BMS-986016) Restores Anti-Leukemic Responses in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia”
Sordo-Bahamonde, C. et al

3. Novel Biomarkers for Cancer Diagnosis and Prognosis

“Prognostic Significance of Gene Expression and DNA Methylation Markers in Circulating Tumor Cells and Paired Plasma Derived Exosomes in Metastatic Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer”
Zavridou, M. et al.

“Radiomics-Derived Data by Contrast Enhanced Magnetic Resonance in RAS Mutations Detection in Colorectal Liver Metastases”
Granata, V. et al.

“Diagnostic Utility of the Immunohistochemical Expression of Serine and Arginine Rich Splicing Factor 1 (SRSF1) in the Differential Diagnosis of Adult Gliomas”
Broggi, G. et al.

“Type 2 Innate Lymphoid Cells Protect against Colorectal Cancer Progression and Predict Improved Patient Survival”
Huang, Q. et al.

“ARID1A and CTNNB1/β-Catenin Molecular Status Affects the Clinicopathologic Features and Prognosis of Endometrial Carcinoma: Implications for an Improved Surrogate Molecular Classification”
De Leo, A. et al.

“Aminopeptidase Expression in Multiple Myeloma Associates with Disease Progression and Sensitivity to Melflufen”
Miettinen, J.J. et al.

“Soluble PD-L1 Is an Independent Prognostic Factor in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma”
Larrinaga, G. et al.

“Lipidomics as a Diagnostic Tool for Prostate Cancer”
Buszewska-Forajta, M. et al.

“SelectMDx and Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Prostate for Men Undergoing Primary Prostate Biopsy: A Prospective Assessment in a Multi-Institutional Study”
Maggi, M. et al.

“Glioma biopsies Classification Using Raman Spectroscopy and Machine Learning Models on Fresh Tissue Samples”
Riva, M. et al.

4. Novel Therapeutic Approaches and Clinical Trials Associated with Cancer Treatment

“Feasibility and Early Clinical Experience of Online Adaptive MR-Guided Radiotherapy of Liver Tumors”
Rogowski, P. et al.

“Initial Experience of Atezolizumab Plus Bevacizumab for Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Real-World Clinical Practice”
Iwamoto, H. et al.

“Namodenoson in Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Child–Pugh B Cirrhosis: Randomized Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial”
Stemmer, S.M. et al.

“Impact of FAPI-PET/CT on Target Volume Definition in Radiation Therapy of Locally Recurrent Pancreatic Cancer”
Liermann, J. et al.

“Unexpected Benefits of Multiport Synchrotron Microbeam Radiation Therapy for Brain Tumors”
Eling, L. et al.

“Palmitoylethanolamide Reduces Colon Cancer Cell Proliferation and Migration, Influences Tumor Cell Cycle and Exerts In Vivo Chemopreventive Effects”
Pagano, E. et al

5. Spatial Omics Analyses of Tumor Tissue

“Unravelling Prostate Cancer Heterogeneity Using Spatial Approaches to Lipidomics and Transcriptomics”
Mutuku, S.M. et al.

“Diagnosis of Glioblastoma by Immuno-Positron Emission Tomography”
Ruiz-López, E. et al.

“SIO: A Spatioimageomics Pipeline to Identify Prognostic Biomarkers Associated with the Ovarian Tumor Microenvironment”
Zhu, Y. et al.

We hope that the scientific community will continue to support the journal in working towards disseminating high-impact research findings from researchers and thus improving the survival rates and the quality of life of cancer patients.

Prof. Dr. Samuel C. Mok, Editor-in-Chief of Cancers
Dr. Deepak Nagrath, Associate Editor-in-Chief of Cancers