New Solutions for Old Problems. Can Non-Invasive Biomarkers Be the Clue?

Dear Colleagues,

Precision medicine is already a reality in the field of oncology as patients can benefit from targeted treatments selected on the basis of specific predictive biomarkers. A breakthrough advancement in the field came from the development of minimally invasive strategies that do not rely on tissue biopsy and are based on the use of alternative samples such as blood, pleural effusion, and saliva, among others, as valuable tools for determining the molecular characteristics of tumors. These approaches offer a more accurate recapitulation of tumor heterogeneity, ontology, and the dynamic evolution of the disease.

Blood is the most widely used type sample for biomarker testing, where circulating tumor cells, DNA, and RNA as well as proteins, metabolites, and exosomes can be found. Nevertheless, there are other kinds of body samples that offer promising possibilities as stools, bronchoalveolar lavages, cerebrospinal fluid, pleural effusion or saliva.

This Special Issue will highlight the role of minimally invasive samples as a reliable source for tumor biomarker assessment.

Dr. Eloisa Jantus-Lewintre
Prof. Rafael Sirera
Prof. Carlos Camps
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-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.