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Biomedicines
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Emerging Trends in Cancer: Biomarkers, Therapeutic Strategies and Future Directions
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Emerging Trends in Cancer: Biomarkers, Therapeutic Strategies and Future Directions

A special issue of Biomedicines (ISSN 2227-9059). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Biology and Oncology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 September 2026 | Viewed by 1236

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Nedime Serakinci

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cyprus International University, Nicosia, Cyprus
Interests: cancer biology; cancer stem cells; telomeres; mesenchymal stem cells; gene therapy; cellular therapy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cancer remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Recent advances have significantly improved our understanding of cancer biology, particularly through the identification of biomarkers and the investigation of cancer stem cells and the heterogeneity of tumors. Cancer’s complex pathology, in addition to the current challenges of therapies, highlights the critical need for ongoing research into effective diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to the Special Issue “Emerging Trends in Cancer: Biomarkers, Therapeutic Strategies and Future Directions” of the journal Biomedicines.

This Special Issue aims to consider emerging trends in cancer research in order to highlight innovative diagnostic and therapeutic strategies while addressing the current challenges and future directions in treatment and management. In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following topics:

  • Discovery and validation of novel cancer biomarkers for early detection, prognosis and treatment monitoring.
  • Advances in understanding the role of cancer stem cells in tumor progression, resistance mechanisms and therapeutic targeting.
  • Innovations in personalized medicine strategies including genomics, proteomics, metabolomics and tailored therapeutic regimens.
  • Emerging cancer therapeutic strategies such as targeted therapy, immunotherapy, gene therapy, nanomedicine and combination therapies.
  • Investigations into the tumor microenvironment, its interactions with cancer cells and implications for treatment response and resistance.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Nedime Serakinci
Guest Editor

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Biomedicines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). 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

  • cancer biomarkers
  • stem cells
  • personalized medicine
  • emerging cancer therapies
  • tumor microenvironment

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 362 KB  
Article
Neutrophil–Lymphocyte–Platelet Ratio for Predicting Bacteremia in Immunosuppressed Cancer Patients: A Retrospective Diagnostic Accuracy Study
by José Manuel Martinez, Ana Espírito Santo, Pedro Leite, Ana Pinho, Ana Rita Carneiro, Ana Maria Oliveira, Diana Ramada and Rui Medeiros
Biomedicines 2026, 14(5), 1170; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines14051170 - 21 May 2026
Viewed by 309
Abstract
Background: Early identification of bacteremia in immunosuppressed cancer patients remains difficult, especially in neutropenia. This study evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of NLR, PLR, and NLPR for identifying bacteremia and sepsis in patients undergoing blood culture episode. Methods: We conducted a retrospective diagnostic accuracy [...] Read more.
Background: Early identification of bacteremia in immunosuppressed cancer patients remains difficult, especially in neutropenia. This study evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of NLR, PLR, and NLPR for identifying bacteremia and sepsis in patients undergoing blood culture episode. Methods: We conducted a retrospective diagnostic accuracy study at a tertiary oncology center between January 2023 and December 2024. All bacteremia identified were included as cases. Culture-negative episodes were subsequently sampled as controls using a frequency-matching strategy. Hematological parameters were obtained within ±24 h of first blood culture episode. Diagnostic performance was assessed using ROC curve analysis and multivariable logistic regression. Results: Of 369 screened episodes, 337 from 323 unique patients were included after excluding 31 records. NLPR showed the highest accuracy for bacteremia (AUC 0.730; 95% CI 0.671–0.788). The optimal cut-off was 0.038 (sensitivity 69.2%, specificity 72.3%) and remained consistent after excluding episodes with antibiotic therapy (AUC 0.768), corticosteroids (AUC 0.708), or growth factor use (AUC 0.718). In severe neutropenia, NLPR showed the highest accuracy (AUC 0.887; 95% CI 0.797–0.978). In multivariable analysis (n = 304), NLPR remained independently associated with bacteremia (p < 0.001), with good model discrimination (AUC 0.815; 95% CI 0.763–0.866). Diagnostic performance for sepsis was lower and not statistically significant. Conclusions: These findings suggest that NLPR may represent a simple, inexpensive, widely accessible adjunctive biomarker to support early bacteremia risk stratification in immunosuppressed cancer patients, particularly in patients with severe neutropenia. Although its overall discrimination was comparable to isolated lymphocyte count, NLPR may provide clinically relevant contextual information by integrating multiple dimensions of immune dysregulation. Further prospective multicenter validation is warranted. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Trends in Cancer: Biomarkers, Therapeutic Strategies and Future Directions)
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17 pages, 21449 KB  
Article
Tissue microRNA Profiling Identifies Prognostic Signatures in Prostate Cancer and Highlights CPEB3 as a Candidate Biomarker
by Jae-Heon Kim, Ah-Rim Moon, Miho Song, Kwang-Woo Lee, Soo Min Suh, Hui Ji Kim, Luis Alfonso Pefianco, Kevin Andrean, Seongho Ryu and Yun-Seob Song
Biomedicines 2026, 14(5), 1169; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines14051169 - 21 May 2026
Viewed by 316
Abstract
Purpose: Prostate cancer is one of the most common malignancies in men, yet current prognostic methods remain suboptimal. Emerging evidence indicates that microRNAs (miRNAs) play critical roles in prostate cancer progression. This study aimed to identify miRNAs associated with adverse clinical outcomes [...] Read more.
Purpose: Prostate cancer is one of the most common malignancies in men, yet current prognostic methods remain suboptimal. Emerging evidence indicates that microRNAs (miRNAs) play critical roles in prostate cancer progression. This study aimed to identify miRNAs associated with adverse clinical outcomes by comparing miRNA expression profiles between prostate tumors with unfavorable versus favorable prognostic features. Materials and Methods: High-throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS) was used to analyze miRNA expression in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded prostate cancer tissue samples. Patients were classified into favorable or unfavorable prognosis groups based on risk stratification scores, Gleason grade group, and biochemical recurrence. Differentially expressed miRNAs were identified using a fold-change threshold ≥2 and a false discovery rate (FDR) <0.05. Predicted target genes and pathway analyses were conducted to generate candidate regulatory hypotheses rather than confirm mechanistic relationships. Results: Several miRNAs were differentially expressed according to prognostic category. miR-206 was significantly downregulated in high-risk tumors compared with low-risk tumors. High-Gleason-grade tumors showed reduced expression of miR-7704 and miR-4454, while miR-25-3p and let-7f-5p were upregulated. In patients with early biochemical recurrence, miR-7704 and miR-10400-5p were downregulated relative to those with prolonged recurrence-free survival. Target prediction analysis identified CPEB3, HAND1, PTAR1, and SPRYD4 as shared candidate targets, with CPEB3 emerging as a prioritized candidate supported by consistency in external datasets rather than a confirmed molecular target. Conclusions: Distinct miRNA expression patterns correlate with prostate cancer aggressiveness and clinical outcomes. miR-206, miR-7704, miR-4454, miR-25-3p, and let-7f-5p represent candidate prognostic biomarkers. Their shared target CPEB3 should be interpreted as a prioritized candidate for future investigation. Given the very small sample size and the lack of qRT-PCR and functional validation, these findings should be considered preliminary and hypothesis-generating, requiring validation in larger independent cohorts and experimental studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Trends in Cancer: Biomarkers, Therapeutic Strategies and Future Directions)
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