Innovative Treatment Strategies for Lung Cancer and Radiotherapy

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Therapy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 May 2024 | Viewed by 5665

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Politécnico de Coimbra, ESTeSC, UCPCBL, Rua 5 de Outubro - SM Bispo, Apartado 7006, 3046-854 Coimbra, Portugal
Interests: lung cancer; inflammation; radiation effects; immune-oncology; biomarkers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Faculty of Medicine, Biophysics Institute, University of Coimbra, 3004-531 Coimbra, Portugal
Interests: biophysics of ionizing radiation; radiobiology and radiation effects; biomaterials; animal models for human diseases; new cancer therapies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Lung cancer is the world’s most deadly cancer. Treatment options include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapies. Regrettably, regardless of improved diagnosis, surgical methods and new treatments, the prognosis for patients with lung cancer is still unsatisfactory. Consequently, there is a need for groundbreaking treatment approaches for lung cancer in combination or not with radiotherapy. Radiation therapy plays a major role in medicinal-intent therapy for locally advanced lung neoplasms. Modern radiotherapy techniques aim to minimize the radiation dose to the lung, without accounting for the regional distribution of lung function. Modalities such as helical tomotherapy and stereotactic radiation therapy are increasingly used in this context. For this reason, oncologic investigations are using significant resources and making substantial efforts toward discovering more efficacious and perhaps more specific drugs. Different technologies are currently under evaluation in clinical trials or have already been introduced into clinical practice. While nanomedicine is contributing to the development of biocompatible materials for therapeutic purposes, the bioengineering of extracellular vesicles is integrated into new targeted treatment strategies.  

This Special Issue is devoted to publishing original research articles on innovative treatment strategies for lung cancer and radiation, clarification of their mechanisms of action, modulating agents and drug combinations, as well as translational studies and clinical evaluations. We aim to provide a comprehensive update on innovative lung cancer treatments and radiotherapy; review articles on these topics are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Fernando Mendes
Prof. Dr. Maria Filomena Botelho
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • lung cancer
  • multimodality treatment
  • surgery
  • chemotherapy
  • radiotherapy
  • targeted therapies
  • immunotherapies

Published Papers (3 papers)

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25 pages, 3851 KiB  
Article
MicroRNA, mRNA, and Proteomics Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets for Improving Lung Cancer Treatment Outcomes
by Qing Ye, Rebecca Raese, Dajie Luo, Shu Cao, Ying-Wooi Wan, Yong Qian and Nancy Lan Guo
Cancers 2023, 15(8), 2294; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15082294 - 14 Apr 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1847
Abstract
The majority of lung cancer patients are diagnosed with metastatic disease. This study identified a set of 73 microRNAs (miRNAs) that classified lung cancer tumors from normal lung tissues with an overall accuracy of 96.3% in the training patient cohort (n = [...] Read more.
The majority of lung cancer patients are diagnosed with metastatic disease. This study identified a set of 73 microRNAs (miRNAs) that classified lung cancer tumors from normal lung tissues with an overall accuracy of 96.3% in the training patient cohort (n = 109) and 91.7% in unsupervised classification and 92.3% in supervised classification in the validation set (n = 375). Based on association with patient survival (n = 1016), 10 miRNAs were identified as potential tumor suppressors (hsa-miR-144, hsa-miR-195, hsa-miR-223, hsa-miR-30a, hsa-miR-30b, hsa-miR-30d, hsa-miR-335, hsa-miR-363, hsa-miR-451, and hsa-miR-99a), and 4 were identified as potential oncogenes (hsa-miR-21, hsa-miR-31, hsa-miR-411, and hsa-miR-494) in lung cancer. Experimentally confirmed target genes were identified for the 73 diagnostic miRNAs, from which proliferation genes were selected from CRISPR-Cas9/RNA interference (RNAi) screening assays. Pansensitive and panresistant genes to 21 NCCN-recommended drugs with concordant mRNA and protein expression were identified. DGKE and WDR47 were found with significant associations with responses to both systemic therapies and radiotherapy in lung cancer. Based on our identified miRNA-regulated molecular machinery, an inhibitor of PDK1/Akt BX-912, an anthracycline antibiotic daunorubicin, and a multi-targeted protein kinase inhibitor midostaurin were discovered as potential repositioning drugs for treating lung cancer. These findings have implications for improving lung cancer diagnosis, optimizing treatment selection, and discovering new drug options for better patient outcomes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Treatment Strategies for Lung Cancer and Radiotherapy)
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16 pages, 1430 KiB  
Article
Changes in Treatment Patterns and Costs for Lung Cancer Have Not Resulted in Relevant Improvements in Survival: A Population-Based Observational Study in Catalonia
by Laura Guarga, Noelia Paco, Emili Vela, Montse Clèries, Julieta Corral, Joaquim Delgadillo, Caridad Pontes and Josep Maria Borràs
Cancers 2022, 14(23), 5791; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14235791 - 24 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1494
Abstract
Objective: Few published studies have described multidisciplinary therapeutic strategies for lung cancer. This study aims to describe the different approaches used for treating lung cancer in Catalonia in 2014 and 2018 and to assess the associated cost and impact on patient survival. Methods: [...] Read more.
Objective: Few published studies have described multidisciplinary therapeutic strategies for lung cancer. This study aims to describe the different approaches used for treating lung cancer in Catalonia in 2014 and 2018 and to assess the associated cost and impact on patient survival. Methods: A retrospective observational cohort study using data of patients with lung cancer from health care registries in Catalonia was carried out. We analyzed change in treatment patterns, costs and survival according to the year of treatment initiation (2014 vs. 2018). The Kaplan–Meier method was used to estimate survival, with the follow-up until 2021. Results: From 2014 to 2018, the proportion of patients undergoing surgery increased and treatments for unresectable tumors decreased, mainly in younger patients. Immunotherapy increased by up to 9% by 2018. No differences in patient survival were observed within treatment patterns. The mean cost per patient in the first year of treatment increased from EUR 14,123 (standard deviation [SD] 4327) to EUR 14,550 (SD 3880) in surgical patients, from EUR 4655 (SD 3540) to EUR 5873 (SD 6455) in patients receiving curative radiotherapy and from EUR 4723 (SD 7003) to EUR 6458 (SD 10,116) in those treated for unresectable disease. Conclusions: From 2014 to 2018, surgical approaches increased in younger patients. The mean cost of treating patients increased, especially in pharmaceutical expenditure, mainly related to the use of several biomarker-targeted treatments. While no differences in overall patient survival were observed, it seems reasonable to expect improvements in this outcome in upcoming years as more patients receive innovative treatments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Treatment Strategies for Lung Cancer and Radiotherapy)
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12 pages, 388 KiB  
Systematic Review
Survival Benefit of Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Pulmonary Carcinoid Tumors
by Philip T. Sobash, Asad Ullah and Nagla Abdel Karim
Cancers 2022, 14(19), 4730; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14194730 - 28 Sep 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1382
Abstract
Pulmonary carcinoid tumors are a rare subtype of neuroendocrine cell tumor found in approximately 1–2% of lung cancers. Management is primarily through surgical resection, with limited benefit of adjuvant therapy in the clinical setting. Genomic profiling is in the nascent stages to molecularly [...] Read more.
Pulmonary carcinoid tumors are a rare subtype of neuroendocrine cell tumor found in approximately 1–2% of lung cancers. Management is primarily through surgical resection, with limited benefit of adjuvant therapy in the clinical setting. Genomic profiling is in the nascent stages to molecularly classify these tumors, but there are promising insights for future targeted therapy. A total of 80 abstracts were analyzed for further review with 11 included in our final analysis. Only 4 of the 11 reviewed in depth provided statistical analysis. We evaluated PFS, OS, 1- and 5-year survival as mentioned in the studies. Nodal and KI67 status were also analyzed. Based on the current literature, there is no definitive evidence that adjuvant chemotherapy after resection confers a survival benefit in typical or atypical carcinoids. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Treatment Strategies for Lung Cancer and Radiotherapy)
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Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: MicroRNA, mRNA, and proteomics biomarkers and therapeutic targets for improving treatment response in non-small cell lung cancer
Authors: Guo, Nancy
Affiliation: West Virginia University and the CDC/National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health in the US

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