Cellular Senescence, Aging and the Tumor Microenvironment in Cancer
A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Tumor Microenvironment".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 35
Special Issue Editors
Interests: senescence; tumor microenvironment; immune biomarkers
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Immunosenescence, the age-related decline in immune function, significantly worsens cancer progression and limits therapeutic success in older adults. Driven by hallmarks like genomic instability, telomere attrition, mitochondrial dysfunction, and chronic inflammation, this process fosters a tumor-promoting microenvironment (TME). Aging reshapes the TME through the recruitment of immunosuppressive cells and the release of senescence-associated secretory phenotypes (SASP), leading to therapy resistance and a poor prognosis.
While immunotherapies such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and CAR-T cell therapy offer promise, their efficacy is hampered in the elderly by factors like T cell exhaustion and myeloid bias. Emerging rejuvenation strategies, including senolytics, epigenetic modulators (like HDAC inhibitors), and metabolic interventions (spermidine, NMN), offer potential to restore aged immunity.
Single-cell multiomics provides deep insights into immune cell heterogeneity, revealing novel targets like IL-34 for inflammation. Addressing immunosenescence is crucial. Future efforts demand age-tailored clinical trials and biomarker-driven approaches to optimize precision oncology for the aging population.
This Special Issue aims to invite papers on the following subtopics:
Subtopics to highlight in the call:
- Therapy-induced senescence and SASP;
- Senescent cells in the TME (stromal, immune, endothelial);
- Aging, immunosenescence, and cancer immunotherapy;
- Senolytics and cancer prevention/treatment;
- Biomarkers of cellular and organismal aging in cancer;
- Age-related health disparities in cancer outcomes.
Diverse paper types are invited:
- Basic mechanistic studies;
- Translational biomarker research;
- Clinical trials and retrospective analyses;
- Reviews and perspectives;
- Methodological papers.
In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Jabed Iqbal
Guest Editor
Dr. Jeremy Wee Kiat Ng
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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
- aging
- senescence
- immunosenescence
- SASP
- tumor microenvironment
- immunotherapy
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