Modulating the Acidic Tumor Microenvironment to Enhance the Efficacy and Reduce the Toxicity of Cancer Treatment
A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Tumor Microenvironment".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 1104
Special Issue Editors
Interests: cancer metabolism
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: melanoma; lung cancer; palliative care
2. Department of Pathology, The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM 87120, USA
3. UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
Interests: the biology and therapeutic utility of circulating tumor cells (CTCs); liquid biopsies; mechanisms of brain metastasis and dormancy in breast and melanoma cancers; molecular crosstalks between dormant bone-marrow (BM) cells and CTCs; roles of BM and BM cellular heterogeneity interplaying with metastasis and dormancy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Cancer progression is closely associated with the acidic tumor microenvironment (TME), a hallmark of disturbed metabolic and thermodynamic order. The Warburg effect—characterized by aerobic glycolysis and lactate accumulation—leads to extracellular acidification, redox imbalance, and immune suppression. Alkalization therapy aims to restore this disrupted homeostasis by normalizing intra- and extracellular pH gradients, reactivating mitochondrial respiration, and reestablishing dissipative energy flow. Recent evidence indicates that modulation of TME acidity enhances the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors, improves metabolic coordination, and suppresses tumor invasion and metastasis. This Special Issue, “Modulating the Acidic Tumor Microenvironment to Enhance the Efficacy and Reduce the Toxicity of Cancer Treatment,” seeks to integrate molecular, metabolic, and clinical perspectives to elucidate how pH restoration can reconstruct biological order and provide a foundation for science-based, personalized cancer therapy.
Prof. Dr. Hiromi Wada
Dr. Keisuke Shirai
Prof. Dr. Dario Marchetti
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- Alkalization therapy
- tumor microenvironment
- Warburg effect
- pH gradient
- mitochondrial metabolism
- redox balance
- immune modulation
- dissipative structure
- personalized oncology
- thermodynamic homeostasis
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