Pharmacokinetics in Cancer Treatment
A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Drug Development".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 11
Special Issue Editor
Interests: clinical pharmacology of anticancer drugs; physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling; population pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) modeling; metabolomics
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Pharmacokinetics (PK), the quantitative study of drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion, plays a pivotal role in advancing novel therapeutic drugs from bench to bedside and optimizing existing cancer treatments. In oncology, PK is essential not only for understanding how drugs reach and persist at tumor sites, but also for predicting and mitigating toxicity in normal tissues. Tumor-specific pathophysiology, including abnormal vasculature, heterogeneous perfusion, and altered expression of transporters and metabolic enzymes, can markedly influence drug disposition and exposure in both systemic circulation and tumors. In addition, interpatient variability arising from genetic polymorphisms, organ function, comorbidities, and concurrent medications further complicates therapeutic outcomes. Translational PK studies provide critical insights into these mechanisms, informing drug design, formulation strategies, and dosing regimens. Clinically, PK knowledge supports therapeutic drug monitoring, individualized dosing, and integration with pharmacodynamics (PD) to optimize efficacy and safety. Advances in PK methodologies, including population PK/PD modeling, physiologically based pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PBPK/PD) modeling, imaging-based drug distribution studies, and biomarker-guided approaches, pave the way toward precision oncology. This Special Issue encompasses original research, reviews, and methodological advances that span molecular and cellular pharmacokinetics, PK/PD modeling, clinical PK studies, and precision dosing strategies, collectively showcasing advances in understanding and applying PK to improve cancer therapy, from small-molecule chemotherapeutics to targeted agents and immunotherapies.
Prof. Dr. Jing Li
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 communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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. 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
- pharmacokinetics (PK)
- pharmacodynamics (PD)
- population PK/PD modeling
- PBPK modeling
- clinical pharmacology
- personalized oncology
- cancer treatment
- pharmacogenetics
- molecular pharmacology
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