Genomic Instability in Breast Cancer: Biomarkers, Resistance and Therapeutic Opportunities
A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 127
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Genomic instability is a fundamental driver of breast cancer initiation, progression, and therapeutic resistance, contributing to the marked heterogeneity observed across disease subtypes. Rapid advances in sequencing technologies and integrative genomics have revealed complex patterns of somatic mutations, copy number alterations, and DNA repair defects with growing clinical relevance.
This Special Issue seeks original research articles, reviews, and perspectives that advance understanding of the mechanisms and translational impact of genomic instability and mutation in breast cancer. Topics include DNA damage response and repair, mutational signatures, chromosomal instability, tumor evolution, and clinically actionable biomarkers. We particularly welcome studies leveraging innovative technologies, multi-omics approaches, and diverse patient populations to accelerate precision oncology and improve patient outcomes. Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Genomic instability or mutation patterns linked to therapy response, resistance, or outcomes.
- Predictive biomarker development or validation (e.g., HRD, mutational signatures, CIN scores, and APOBEC activity).
- Clinical trial correlative studies using tumor or liquid biopsies.
- Translation of DNA damage response (DDR) alterations into targeted or combination therapies.
- Studies of tumor evolution and clonal dynamics with clinical relevance.
- Epigenetic regulation of genomic instability, including chromatin remodeling and DNA methylation effects.
- Multi-omics or functional genomics defining clinical actionability.
- Research addressing population diversity and disparities.
- Focused reviews or perspectives on clinical implementation and emerging directions.
Dr. Melyssa R. Bratton
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 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.
Keywords
- genomic instability
- somatic mutation
- DNA damage response
- homologous recombination deficiency (HRD)
- tumor mutational burden (TMB)
- chromosomal instability (CIN)
- tumor evolution
- therapeutic resistance
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