The Impact of Tumor Microenvironment on Therapeutic Resistance
A special issue of Current Oncology (ISSN 1718-7729).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 June 2026 | Viewed by 1025
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The tumor microenvironment (TME) plays a critical role in cancer progression and therapeutic response. Comprising a dynamic and heterogeneous network of stromal cells, immune infiltrates, neurons, extracellular matrix components, and soluble factors, the TME often fosters an immunosuppressive and drug-resistant niche. Despite significant advances in targeted therapies and immunotherapies, therapeutic resistance—both intrinsic and acquired—remains a major obstacle to durable clinical responses. Growing evidence highlights the TME as a key driver of resistance, through mechanisms such as impaired drug delivery, immune modulation, and the secretion of survival-promoting signals. Interactions between tumor cells and their surrounding microenvironment can reprogram cellular pathways, promote phenotypic plasticity, and facilitate the emergence of drug-tolerant clones.
For this Special Issue, we invite original research and review articles focused on the interplay between the tumor microenvironment and therapeutic resistance. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: stromal–immune cell crosstalk, mechanisms of resistance mediated by the TME, and strategies to overcome microenvironment-driven resistance. Both mechanistic and clinically oriented studies are particularly encouraged, with the goal of advancing our understanding of the TME’s role in therapy resistance and identifying novel therapeutic targets.
We look forward to your submissions.
Dr. Ziqing Chen
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 short 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. Current Oncology is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2200 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
- tumor microenvironment
- therapeutic resistance
- stromal–immune crosstalk
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