Announcements

1. “Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Molecular Pathogenesis and Therapeutic Advances”
by Blanca Cucarull, Anna Tutusaus, Patricia Rider, Tania Hernáez-Alsina, Carlos Cuño, Pablo García de Frutos, Anna Colell, Montserrat Marí and Albert Morales
Cancers 2022, 14(3), 621; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14030621
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/3/621

2. “The Evolution of Ovarian Carcinoma Subclassification”
by Martin Köbel and Eun Young Kang
Cancers 2022, 14(2), 416; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14020416
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/2/416

3. “Chemotherapy Side-Effects: Not All DNA Damage Is Equal”
by Winnie M. C. van den Boogaard, Daphne S. J. Komninos and Wilbert P. Vermeij
Cancers 2022, 14(3), 627; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14030627
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/3/627

4. “The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Early Cancer Diagnosis”
by Benjamin Hunter, Sumeet Hindocha and Richard W. Lee
Cancers 2022, 14(6), 1524; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14061524
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/6/1524

5. “Energy Sources for Exosome Communication in a Cancer Microenvironment”
by Abhimanyu Thakur, Amanda Johnson, Emily Jacobs, Kui Zhang, Jonathan Chen, Zhubo Wei, Qizhou Lian and Huanhuan Joyce Chen
Cancers 2022, 14(7), 1698; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14071698
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/7/1698

6. “Fatty Acid Metabolism in Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells and Tumor-Associated Macrophages: Key Factor in Cancer Immune Evasion”
by Sophiya Siddiqui and Rainer Glauben
Cancers 2022, 14(1), 250; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14010250
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/1/250

7. “Programmed Death-Ligand 1 (PD-L1) as Immunotherapy Biomarker in Breast Cancer”
by Martín Núñez Abad, Silvia Calabuig-Fariñas, Miriam Lobo de Mena, Susana Torres-Martínez, Clara García González, José Ángel García García, Vega Iranzo González-Cruz and Carlos Camps Herrero
Cancers 2022, 14(2), 307; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14020307
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/2/307

8. “Metastatic Progression of Osteosarcomas: A Review of Current Knowledge of Environmental versus Oncogenic Drivers”
by Guillaume Anthony Odri, Joëlle Tchicaya-Bouanga, Diane Ji Yun Yoon and Dominique Modrowski
Cancers 2022, 14(2), 360; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14020360
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/2/360

9. “EOB-MR Based Radiomics Analysis to Assess Clinical Outcomes following Liver Resection in Colorectal Liver Metastases”
by Vincenza Granata, Roberta Fusco, Federica De Muzio, Carmen Cutolo, Sergio Venanzio Setola, Federica Dell’Aversana, Alessandro Ottaiano, Guglielmo Nasti, Roberta Grassi, Vincenzo Pilone et al.
Cancers 2022, 14(5), 1239; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14051239
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/5/1239

10. “Innate and Adaptive Immunopathogeneses in Viral Hepatitis; Crucial Determinants of Hepatocellular Carcinoma”
by Marco Y. W. Zaki, Ahmed M. Fathi, Samara Samir, Nardeen Eldafashi, Kerolis Y. William, Maiiada Hassan Nazmy, Moustafa Fathy, Upkar S. Gill and Shishir Shetty
Cancers 2022, 14(5), 1255; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14051255
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/5/1255

1. “Triple Negative Breast Cancer: Updates on Classification and Treatment in 2021”
by Maroun Bou Zerdan, Tala Ghorayeb, Fares Saliba, Sabine Allam, Morgan Bou Zerdan, Marita Yaghi, Nadeem Bilani, Rola Jaafar and Zeina Nahleh
Cancers 2022, 14(5), 1253; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14051253
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/5/1253

2. “MMP9: A Tough Target for Targeted Therapy for Cancer”
by Katarzyna Augoff, Anita Hryniewicz-Jankowska, Renata Tabola and Kamilla Stach
Cancers 2022, 14(7), 1847; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14071847
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/7/1847

3. “Immunotherapy for Colorectal Cancer: Mechanisms and Predictive Biomarkers”
by Lindsey Carlsen, Kelsey E. Huntington and Wafik S. El-Deiry
Cancers 2022, 14(4), 1028; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14041028
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/4/1028

4. “Actively Targeted Nanomedicines in Breast Cancer: From Pre-Clinal Investigation to Clinic”
by Ana Isabel Fraguas-Sánchez, Irene Lozza and Ana Isabel Torres-Suárez
Cancers 2022, 14(5), 1198; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14051198
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/5/1198

5. “The Renaissance of Cyclin Dependent Kinase Inhibitors”
by Tobias Ettl, Daniela Schulz and Richard Josef Bauer
Cancers 2022, 14(2), 293; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14020293
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/2/293

6. “Update on Epidemiology, Diagnosis, and Biomarkers in Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Neoplasms”
by Daisuke Takayanagi, Hourin Cho, Erika Machida, Atsushi Kawamura, Atsuo Takashima, Satoshi Wada, Takuya Tsunoda, Takashi Kohno and Kouya Shiraishi
Cancers 2022, 14(5), 1119; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14051119
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/5/1119

7. “PARP Inhibitors in Glioma: A Review of Therapeutic Opportunities”
by Hao-Wen Sim, Evanthia Galanis and Mustafa Khasraw
Cancers 2022, 14(4), 1003; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14041003
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/4/1003

8. “Cannabidiol Inhibits Tumorigenesis in Cisplatin-Resistant Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer via TRPV2”
by Swati Misri, Kirti Kaul, Sanjay Mishra, Manish Charan, Ajeet Kumar Verma, Martin P. Barr, Dinesh K. Ahirwar and Ramesh K. Ganju
Cancers 2022, 14(5), 1181; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14051181
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/5/1181

9. “Early Response Prediction of Multiparametric Functional MRI and 18F-FDG-PET in Patients with Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Treated with (Chemo)Radiation”
by Roland M. Martens, Thomas Koopman, Cristina Lavini, Tim van de Brug, Gerben J. C. Zwezerijnen, J. Tim Marcus, Marije R. Vergeer, C. René Leemans, Remco de Bree, Pim de Graaf et al.
Cancers 2022, 14(1), 216; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14010216
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/1/216

10. “Knowns and Unknowns about CAR-T Cell Dysfunction”
by Aleksei Titov, Yaroslav Kaminskiy, Irina Ganeeva, Ekaterina Zmievskaya, Aygul Valiullina, Aygul Rakhmatullina, Alexey Petukhov, Regina Miftakhova, Albert Rizvanov and Emil Bulatov
Cancers 2022, 14(4), 1078; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14041078
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/4/1078

1. “Classification of Breast Cancer Nottingham Prognostic Index Using High-Dimensional Embedding and Residual Neural Network”
by Li Zhou, Maria Rueda and Abedalrhman Alkhateeb
Cancers 2022, 14(4), 934; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14040934
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/4/934

2. “Bias and Class Imbalance in Oncologic Data—Towards Inclusive and Transferrable AI in Large Scale Oncology Data Sets”
by Erdal Tasci, Ying Zhuge, Kevin Camphausen and Andra V. Krauze
Cancers 2022, 14(12), 2897; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14122897
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/12/2897

3. “Comprehensive Analysis of Co-Mutations Identifies Cooperating Mechanisms of Tumorigenesis”
by Limin Jiang, Hui Yu, Scott Ness, Peng Mao, Fei Guo, Jijun Tang and Yan Guo
Cancers 2022, 14(2), 415; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14020415
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/2/415

4. “Single-Cell Sequencing: Current Applications in Precision Onco-Genomics and Cancer Therapeutics”
by Lisa Maria Mustachio and Jason Roszik
Cancers 2022, 14(3), 657; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14030657
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/3/657

5. “Multitask Learning Radiomics on Longitudinal Imaging to Predict Survival Outcomes following Risk-Adaptive Chemoradiation for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer”
by Parisa Forouzannezhad, Dominic Maes, Daniel S. Hippe, Phawis Thammasorn, Reza Iranzad, Jie Han, Chunyan Duan, Xiao Liu, Shouyi Wang, W. Art Chaovalitwongse et al.
Cancers 2022, 14(5), 1228; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14051228
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/5/1228

6. “Identification of a Novel Cuproptosis-Related Gene Signature for Prognostic Implication in Head and Neck Squamous Carcinomas”
by Shouyi Tang, Li Zhao, Xing-Bo Wu, Zhen Wang, Lu-Yao Cai, Dan Pan, Ying Li, Yu Zhou and Yingqiang Shen
Cancers 2022, 14(16), 3986; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14163986
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/16/3986

7. “An Integrative Human Pan-Cancer Analysis of Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 1 (CDK1)”
by Xuanyou Liu, Hao Wu and Zhenguo Liu
Cancers 2022, 14(11), 2658; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14112658
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/11/2658

8. “Machine Learning Predictor of Immune Checkpoint Blockade Response in Gastric Cancer”
by Ji-Yong Sung and Jae-Ho Cheong
Cancers 2022, 14(13), 3191; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14133191
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/13/3191

9. “Implications of Stemness Features in 1059 Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients from Five Cohorts: Prognosis, Treatment Response, and Identification of Potential Compounds”
by Haoming Mai, Haisheng Xie, Mengqi Luo, Jia Hou, Jiaxuan Chen, Jinlin Hou and De-ke Jiang
Cancers 2022, 14(3), 563; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14030563
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/3/563

10. “UMAP Based Anomaly Detection for Minimal Residual Disease Quantification within Acute Myeloid Leukemia”
by Lisa Weijler, Florian Kowarsch, Matthias Wödlinger, Michael Reiter, Margarita Maurer-Granofszky, Angela Schumich and Michael N. Dworzak
Cancers 2022, 14(4), 898; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14040898
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/4/898

1. “Epidemiology of Glioblastoma Multiforme–Literature Review“
by Szymon Grochans, Anna Maria Cybulska, Donata Simińska, Jan Korbecki, Klaudyna Kojder, Dariusz Chlubek and Irena Baranowska-Bosiacka
Cancers 2022, 14(10), 2412; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14102412
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/10/2412

2. “Trends in the Incidence and Treatment of Early-Onset Pancreatic Cancer”
by Michael LaPelusa, Chan Shen, Nina D. Arhin, Dana Cardin, Marcus Tan, Kamran Idrees, Sunil Geevarghese, Bapsi Chakravarthy, Jordan Berlin and Cathy Eng
Cancers 2022, 14(2), 283; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14020283
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/2/283

3. “Worldwide Burden, Risk Factors, and Temporal Trends of Ovarian Cancer: A Global Study”
by Junjie Huang, Wing Chung Chan, Chun Ho Ngai, Veeleah Lok, Lin Zhang, Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno III, Wanghong Xu, Zhi-Jie Zheng, Edmar Elcarte, Mellissa Withers et al.
Cancers 2022, 14(9), 2230; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14092230
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/9/2230

4. “Febrile Neutropenia Duration Is Associated with the Severity of Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis in Pediatric Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Recipients”
by Riccardo Masetti, Federica D’Amico, Daniele Zama, Davide Leardini, Edoardo Muratore, Marek Ussowicz, Jowita Fraczkiewicz, Simone Cesaro, Giulia Caddeo, Vincenza Pezzella et al.
Cancers 2022, 14(8), 1932; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14081932
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/8/1932

5. “Slip versus Slop: A Head-to-Head Comparison of UV-Protective Clothing to Sunscreen”
by Elizabeth G. Berry, Joshua Bezecny, Michael Acton, Taylor P. Sulmonetti, David M. Anderson, Haskell W. Beckham, Rebecca A. Durr, Takahiro Chiba, Jennifer Beem, Douglas E. Brash et al.
Cancers 2022, 14(3), 542; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14030542
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/3/542

6. “Unmet Needs and Perspectives in Oral Cancer Prevention”
by Jebrane Bouaoud, Paolo Bossi, Moshe Elkabets, Sandra Schmitz, Léon C. van Kempen, Pierre Martinez, Sankar Jagadeeshan, Ingrid Breuskin, Gerwin J. Puppels, Caroline Hoffmann et al.
Cancers 2022, 14(7), 1815; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14071815
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/7/1815

7. “New Insights into the Epidemiology of Vulvar Cancer: Systematic Literature Review for an
Update of Incidence and Risk Factors”
by Lauro Bucchi, Margherita Pizzato, Stefano Rosso and Stefano Ferretti
Cancers 2022, 14(2), 389; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14020389
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/2/389

8. “The Impact of Treatment for Smoking on Breast Cancer Patients’ Survival”
by Akshara Singareeka Raghavendra, George Kypriotakis, Maher Karam-Hage, Seokhun Kim, Mazen Jizzini, Kareem S. Seoudy, Jason D. Robinson, Carlos H. Barcenas, Paul M. Cinciripini, Debu Tripathy et al.
Cancers 2022, 14(6), 1464; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14061464
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/6/1464

9. “Vet-ICD-O-Canine-1, a System for Coding Canine Neoplasms Based on the Human ICD-O-3.2”
by Katia Pinello, Valeria Baldassarre, Katja Steiger, Orlando Paciello, Isabel Pires, Renée Laufer-Amorim, Anna Oevermann, João Niza-Ribeiro, Luca Aresu, Brian Rous et al.
Cancers 2022, 14(6), 1529; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14061529
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/6/1529

10. “Cancer Survival in Adults in Spain: A Population-Based Study of the Spanish Network of Cancer Registries (REDECAN)”
by Marcela Guevara, Amaia Molinuevo, Diego Salmerón, Rafael Marcos-Gragera, Marià Carulla, María-Dolores Chirlaque, Marta Rodríguez Camblor, Araceli Alemán, Dolores Rojas, Ana Vizcaíno Batllés et al.
Cancers 2022, 14(10), 2441; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14102441
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/10/2441

We are delighted to announce that Prof. Dr. Sanjay K. Srivastava, M.S., Ph.D., FAAAS, has become the new Section Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Cancer Metastasis” in Cancers (ISSN: 2072-6694).

Prof. Dr. Sanjay K. Srivastava is a University Distinguished Professor, the Chairman of the Department of Immunotherapeutics and Biotechnology, and the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC). He is also a James ‘Buddy’ Davidson Endowed Professor of Pediatric Pharmacology and Oncology. Prof. Dr. Srivastava also served as the Associate Dean for Research for six years at TTUHSC. He recently received the honor to be elected as the Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), which is a very prestigious scientific organization.

Prof. Dr. Srivastava has extensive research experience in the field of cancer chemoprevention and therapeutics. He is a serial innovator with several patents to his credit. His inventive contributions are supported by excellence in research. Named in the World’s Top 2% Scientists list for 2020 and 2021, Prof. Dr. Srivastava has a track record of being a productive scientist, authoring more than 160 research articles in high-impact journals with more than 10,000 citations and holding an H-index of 57, demonstrating just how impactful his research contributions have been over the years. His research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, NIH, and other agencies and he has received numerous prestigious awards. The major focus of his laboratory is on delineating the signaling mechanisms responsible for tumor growth, angiogenesis, and metastasis in different cancer models including pancreatic, ovarian, breast, melanoma, and glioblastoma. His recent research focuses on understanding the mechanism of chemotherapeutic drug resistance in melanoma, breast, and glioblastoma. For the last 10+ years, he has also been repurposing existing non-cancer drugs for cancer therapy. For example, his group has demonstrated the anticancer effects of a few anti-psychotic drugs for breast cancer, brain cancer, and pancreatic cancer therapy. He also outlined the anti-tumor effects of anti-malarial and anti-helminthic drugs for drug-resistant breast cancer.

Prof. Dr. Srivastava has mentored numerous trainees (undergraduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and graduate students) who are now established researchers/faculty at different places. His research has been highlighted by media and news agencies. Prof. Dr. Srivastava is on the editorial board of several prestigious journals and is a member of societies including AACR, SOT, AAAS, and AAPS. He serves on the grant review panels of the National Institute of Health (NIH), the Department of Defense, and other agencies.

The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Dr. Srivastava, who shared his vision for the journal with us, as well as his views of the research area and Open Access publishing:

1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to take the role as its Editor-in-Chief?

I am a well-established cancer researcher and have published a few articles in Cancers. I realized that Cancers was lacking one of the key hallmarks of cancer, metastasis, so I decided to establish a separate Section for “Cancer Metastasis”. With my 30 years of research experience in the field of cancer and over 160 publications, I can contribute significantly to this Section.

I would like to expand this Section and would like to see it become one of the top-rated journal Sections on cancer metastasis.

Although a lot of groundbreaking discoveries have been made, there is still a lot to know about cancer and appropriate drugs to be found for therapy, especially for metastatic tumors.

The benefit of Open Access journals is that they are easily accessible to people across the globe.

We warmly welcome Prof. Dr. Sanjay K. Srivastava as the new Section Editor-in-Chief and we look forward to him leading Cancers to reach many more milestones.

Recently, Clarivate^TM revealed its 2022 list of Highly Cited Researchers™—individuals at universities, research institutes and commercial organizations.

The scientists who were selected for this year’s list of Highly Cited Researchers have published highly cited papers in the 11-year period from January 2011 to December 2021, with a citation frequency in the top 1% of academic subjects and the same year of publication in the Web of Science^TM database. Based on the Web of Science Citation data, 6938 researchers from across the globe who have demonstrated a disproportionate level of significant and broad influence in their chosen field or fields over the last decade have been awarded Highly Cited Researcher 2022 designations. The list is truly global, spanning 69 countries or regions and spread across a diverse range of research sciences and social sciences.

According to statistics, 27 members of the Editorial Board of Cancers (ISSN: 2072-6694) have been listed among the Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate in 2022. They are being recognized for their high-quality scientific research achievements and outstanding contributions to professional fields. The Cancers journal office sincerely congratulates all elected Editorial Board Members and hopes that they continue to have an academically productive relationship with the journal.

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new initiative—the MDPI Special Issue Mentor Program.

This program will enable early career researchers (who must hold a Ph.D. in a related field) to experience editing a Special Issue in MDPI journals, under the mentorship of our experienced Editorial Board Members or other experienced scientists. The mentor program will provide an excellent opportunity for early career scientists to gain editorial experience, and to cultivate their ability to edit scientific research.

The mentee’s responsibilities include:

• Proposing a Special Issue title and assisting the mentor in preparing a summary (around 200–400 words) and 3–10 keywords describing the background, importance, and goal of the Issue;
• Writing a brief promotion plan for the Special Issue;
• Preparing a list of scholars who may be interested in the Issue and personally e-mailing invitations on behalf of Guest Editors;
• Writing an editorial for the online Special Issue together with the mentor.

The mentor’s responsibilities include:

• Conducting a final check before the Special Issue is published online;
• Performing editorial control of the Special Issue and quality control of the publications, both of which must be carried out in a timely manner;
• Providing suggestions to younger scholars if they have any doubts or concerns regarding submissions;
• Organizing video calls with young scholars and the Editorial Office regularly to discuss problems and improvement suggestions for the Special Issue;
• Making and submitting decisions regarding submissions with the assistance of mentees.

Certificates and awards:
After the Special Issue closes, the Editorial Office will provide official certificates for all the mentors and early career researchers.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please send your Special Issue proposal to the Editorial Office of a journal you choose, and we will discuss the process (i.e., mentor collaboration, Special Issue topic feasibility analysis, etc.) in further detail. The full list of MDPI journals is as follows: https://www.mdpi.com/about/journals.

In addition to the new Special Issue Mentor Program, we will continue to welcome all Special Issue proposals focusing on hot research topics.

MDPI has just become the first open access (OA) publisher to reach the milestone of one million articles published. That is one million articles freely available to all, to circulate and build upon! We are proud to share this special moment with the global scientific community.

This landmark has been reached thanks to the immeasurable support of more than 600,000 expert reviewers, 66,000 editorial board members and 6700 hard-working colleagues across MDPI’s global offices.

Within more than 25 years of publishing, our journals received 2.1 million manuscripts and generated 4.6 million peer review reports to get to one million papers published.

Reaching the milestone of one million articles published reinforces our mission to remove any existing barriers and to make scientific research accessible to all. Since its inception, MDPI’s goal has been to create reliable processes to make science open. This is a path towards facilitating the dissemination of novel insights in scientific communities.

Regular feedback from authors and reviewers shows that our service is greatly appreciated and needed. At the same time, the feedback helps us identify areas for further improvement.

As it stands, a significant share of published research findings remain closed access. More than half of the content published with the most well-known legacy publishers stays behind a paywall, and that is not including articles published in hybrid OA journals, or made available months or years after publication.

A new policy announced by the US administration in August 2022 requires that, as of January 2026, all US federally funded research be made freely and immediately available after publication. While the new policy does not mandate articles be published under an open access license, it is aligned with the open access movement in removing all barriers to research. Similarly, some of the most advanced research institutions in the world intend to have all funded research articles published in open access by 2025.

MDPI is proud to be the leading agent of the transition to open access.

"Thanks a Million" to all the contributors!

We are delighted to announce that Dr. Maen Abdelrahim, MD, Ph.D., Pharm B, Associate Professor of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, Associate Clinical Member, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Director, Cockrell Center for Advanced Therapeutics, Research Institute, has taken over as Section Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Transplant Oncology and Cancer Nursing Care” in Cancers (ISSN: 2072-6694). 

Dr. Maen Abdelrahim is a gastrointestinal medical oncologist and transplant oncologist attending to patients with upper and lower GI malignancies in addition to malignancies treated by liver transplantation. He is the section chief of GI medical oncology leading GI cancer care at Houston Methodist Neal Cancer Center with a focus on clinical trial Phase II/III in GI malignancies. Dr. Abdelrahim serves as the medical director of the Cockrell Center for Advanced Therapeutics where he oversees the Phase I program at Houston Methodist Hospital and Neal Cancer Center. He is a principal investigator on multiple clinical trials with a focus on chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy in GI malignancies. His translational research is focused on developing new mechanism-based drugs for the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers. He has identified for the first time a new structural class of compounds that can target selective transcription factors that is now recognized as a candidate for the development of new anticancer drugs. The lead compound of this class reached Phase I clinical trial to treat patients with GI cancers.

Dr. Maen Abdelrahim's research has pinpointed a number of compounds that inhibit tumor growth and angiogenesis, in part by inducing proteasome-dependent degradation of selected Sp proteins in cancer cells and tumors. The lead compound of this class (Tolfenamic acid) has reached Phase I clinical trial to treat patients with advanced and metastatic pancreatic cancer in combination with gemcitabine and radiation therapy. Dr. Abdelrahim has a patent application submitted for the new use of these compounds in GI cancers. In prior research, he was the first to discover that Sp4 protein is overexpressed in GI cancers, including pancreatic cancer, and that the role of Sp4 can be equally as important as Sp1 in some types of GI cancers.

Researchers in cancer have the ultimate responsibility of taking their findings to the clinic, which is described as translational research. By seeing GI cancer patients in his practice, collaborating with translational scientists in the lab and conducting and directing clinical trials, Dr. Maen Abdelrahim hopes to continue to fuel the translational research cycle from lab to clinic and back to the lab. Dr. Abdelrahim has published more than 220 original research articles, abstracts, review articles, and book chapters in prestigious journals and publishing groups. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation, European Society for Medical Oncology, and International Liver Transplant Society. He is the site principal investigator for the Southwest Oncology Cooperative Group at Houston Methodist Neal Cancer Center.

Dr. Maen Abdelrahim completed his pharmacy degree followed by a Ph.D. and graduate work in the field of pharmacology and toxicology from Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. He obtained his medical degree from Texas A&M University, completed his residency at Baylor College of Medicine, and a fellowship in medical oncology at Duke University.

The following is a short Q&A with Dr. Maen Abdelrahim, who shared his vision for the journal with us, as well as his views of the research area:

1. What appealed to you about Cancers that made you want to take the role as its Section Editor-in-Chief?
What drew me to Cancers is its emphasis on openness and novelty in research by publishing studies on clinical translations, and basic science topics associated with cancer research. As an Editorial Board Member, reviewer, and contributor to Cancers, I have found it to be the best resource for information on the problems that affect oncology. One of those platforms that aid in guiding research in the right direction is Cancers; as well as guiding research in the right direction, Cancers’ emphasis on publishing results from around the world with the same enthusiasm strikes me as being the aspect that most closely aligns with my way of thinking. Publishing meaningful negative results with the same enthusiasm as positive results is another aspect of Cancers.

2. What is your vision for Cancers?
In the years to come, I hope to see Cancers serve as a forum for researchers and oncologists to share their knowledge and research findings. My goal is to make a difference in the field of cancer research by opening doors for fresh ideas and giving them the chance to present their work without just focusing on experiments' positive and negative outcomes. I would see this as a chance to inspire and encourage researchers to explain the reasoning behind their research and will make sure to add my expertise to every research or study I undertake.

3. What does the future of this field of research look like?
It is a well-known fact that the number of cancer patients has been increasing over the years; deaths from this disease are very visible, and these numbers are expected to rise further in the coming years. According to statistics, implementing cancer prevention strategies can prevent half to two-thirds of all cancer cases. Once the potential of this field is realized, the battle against cancer will be half won, and lethal exposure to existing cancer therapies will be eliminated. As a result, it is critical to prioritize cancer research and expand its reach.

4. What do you think of the development of Open Access in the publishing field?
In my opinion, there should be no obstacles between science and readers. It should be open to all with no restrictions. Furthermore, as this research field gains traction, it would benefit a larger population if the progress was transparent and accessible to all newcomers in this field.

We warmly welcome Dr. Maen Abdelrahim to his new role as Section Editor-in-Chief, and we look forward to him leading Cancers to many more milestones.

We are pleased to announce that the website of the MDPI Sustainability Foundation has been revamped! For the past couple of months, our UX UI team and front-end developers have been working hard to launch the website in time for the opening of the Sustainability Awards nominations.

The website is not the only thing that has had a remodeling. Indeed, the format of the Emerging Sustainability Leader Award (ESLA) has been updated. ESLA is now a competition open to individual researchers or start-ups founded by researchers under the age of 35. Nominee applications will go through 2 rounds of selection until the final 3 are decided. The finalists will then be invited to give pitch presentations during the Award Ceremony to win either first place (10,000 USD) or runner-up (2 x 5000 USD).

The World Sustainability Award, on the other hand, remains the same: a total prize money of 100,000 USD is up for grabs by senior individual researchers or groups of researchers from the international research community.

Nominations for both the World Sustainability Award and the Emerging Sustainability Leader award are now open! Check out our new website for more information on how to nominate.