Tumor Biomarkers in Precision Oncology: From Non-Coding RNAs to Functional Protein Signatures
A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Biomarkers".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 December 2026 | Viewed by 354
Editors
Interests: circular RNA biology in cancers; extracellular vesicle biomarkers; precision oncology; therapy response and resistance; epigenetics
Interests: cancer biomarkers; gastric cancer; colorectal cancer
Interests: circular RNA biology in cancers; liquid biopsy; precision oncology; therapy response/resistance; natural anti-tumor bioactive compounds and molecular mechanisms
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Tumor biomarkers are central to contemporary oncology, providing essential tools for cancer detection, prognosis, treatment selection, and monitoring of therapeutic response. While a growing number of biomarker candidates have been proposed, many remain insufficiently validated, and clinically robust markers that reliably guide precision oncology are still limited. The rapid evolution of high-throughput sequencing, proteomics, and liquid biopsy technologies has expanded the biomarker landscape beyond traditional protein markers to include a broad spectrum of non-coding RNAs and functional molecular signatures.
Non-coding RNAs, including circular RNAs (circRNAs), long non-coding RNAs, and microRNAs, have emerged as promising biomarker classes due to their relative stability, context-dependent expression, and mechanistic involvement in tumor initiation, progression, and therapy resistance. In parallel, protein-based biomarkers, spanning signaling mediators, metabolic enzymes, and immune-related factors, continue to offer indispensable functional and translational insights. Increasingly, integrative strategies that combine RNA- and protein-level information, often supported by multi-omics and computational modeling, are being developed to improve predictive performance and clinical utility.
Overall, despite substantial progress in biomarker discovery, major unmet needs remain in standardization, analytical and clinical validation, and implementation in real-world settings, particularly for early detection and therapy-guided decision-making. For this Special Issue of Cancers, we welcome original research and review articles that highlight recent advances and future challenges in tumor biomarker development, including discovery pipelines, functional validation, liquid biopsy approaches, multi-omics integration, and biomarker-guided precision oncology.
Dr. Caiming Xu
Dr. Silei Sui
Dr. Kainan Wang
Dr. Tikam Chand Dakal
Guest Editors
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 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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cancers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2900 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
- tumor biomarkers
- non-coding RNA
- protein biomarkers
- protein biomarkers
- precision oncology
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
