Heat Shock Proteins in Metastatic Cancer: From Molecular Mechanisms to Clinical Targeting
A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 216
Editors
Interests: heat shock proteins; breast cancer; metastasis
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are essential molecular chaperones that safeguard proteome integrity in all cells by directing protein folding, stabilizing signaling complexes, and preventing the accumulation of toxic aggregates. In cancer, their expression is frequently elevated to buffer the effects of genetic instability, sustain oncogenic pathways, and enable survival under metabolic, proteotoxic, and therapeutic stress. For many years, the study of HSPs in oncology has focused predominantly on their intracellular functions, particularly their role in maintaining the activity of mutated and over-expressed client proteins that drive tumor growth.
More recently, it has become clear that the HSP network extends far beyond the cytoplasm. Distinct populations of HSPs are actively secreted or released in association with extracellular vesicles, where they function as signaling molecules that reshape the tumor microenvironment. These extracellular HSPs influence immune responses, interact with extracellular matrix components, and promote cytoskeletal remodeling, thereby supporting invasive behavior and metastatic dissemination. Recognizing this spatially distributed chaperone system has fundamentally changed our understanding of how proteostasis contributes to cancer progression.
Although significant progress has been made in developing HSP-targeted therapies, most efforts have centered on inhibiting intracellular chaperone activity, with limited clinical success. New strategies aimed at selectively targeting tumor-enriched, membrane-associated, or extracellular HSP pools, as well as approaches that exploit their immunogenic properties, are now beginning to emerge. These advances provide an opportunity to revisit HSP biology from an integrated mechanistic and translational perspective.
This Special Issue will highlight the multifaceted roles of HSPs in cancer invasion and metastasis, encompassing intracellular and extracellular functions, their contribution to cell-state plasticity and metastatic fitness, and their potential as therapeutic targets and circulating biomarkers. We welcome original research articles and comprehensive reviews that bridge fundamental chaperone biology and preclinical and clinical oncology.
Prof. Dr. Daniel Jay
Guest Editor
Dr. Pragya Singh
Guest Editor Assistant
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
- HSPs and eHSPs (Hsp90, Hsp70, Hsp60, Hsp40 and Hsp27)
- HSF1
- chaperone
- cancer metastasis
- EMT
- tumor microenvironment
- ECM remodelling
- anoikis resistance
- circulating tumor cell survival
- premetastatic niche
- metastatic colonisation
- extracellular vesicles
- exosomes
- cancer stem cells
- therapy resistance
- metastatic biomarkers
- immunotherapy
- HSP-targeted therapy
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