Next-Generation Cancer Immunotherapies: Tracking, Targeting and Reprogramming the Immune Response
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pathology, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 October 2025
Special Issue Editor
2. Laboratory of Immunology and Oncology, Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (CNC), University of Coimbra, 3004-504 Coimbra, Portugal
3. Center of Investigation in Environment, Genetics and Oncobiology (CIMAGO), Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, 3004-504 Coimbra, Portugal
4. Coimbra Institute for Clinical and Biomedical Research (iCBR), Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal
5. Center for Innovation in Biomedicine and Biotechnology (CIBB), University of Coimbra, 3004-504 Coimbra, Portugal
6. Clinical Academic Centre of Coimbra (CACC), 3000-075 Coimbra, Portugal
Interests: immunology; oncology; immunogenetics; transplantation; human genetics; molecular diagnostics; molecular biology; gene expression; R&D
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
While immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment, challenges in patient responses, immune evasion, and therapy resistance remain. Next-generation approaches seek to overcome these hurdles by refining how we track, target, and reprogram the immune response to tumors. Recent advances in immune monitoring—ranging from high-dimensional cytometry and single-cell transcriptomics to spatial proteomics—enable the dynamic profiling of tumor–immune interactions in real time. Parallel to this, the engineering of immune cells such as CAR-T, CAR-NK, and other synthetic constructs is enhancing our capacity to selectively target cancer while minimizing off-target effects. Moreover, the design of programmable immune circuits, modular receptors, and synthetic transcriptional networks holds immense promise for precisely controlling immune cell function in situ. These innovations intersect with growing insights into innate immunity, which have allowed natural killer cells, myeloid cells, and innate-like lymphocytes to be repurposed into potent, off-the-shelf therapeutics. This Special Issue invites the submission of original research and review articles exploring molecular and cellular strategies that advance immune tracking, therapeutic targeting, and synthetic reprogramming in cancer. Topics of interest include immune engineering, tumor immune evasion, biomarker-guided therapy, synthetic immunology, and translational applications across hematological and solid malignancies.
We aim to provide a comprehensive and forward-facing view of how the immune response can be harnessed and redesigned to meet the new frontiers of cancer treatment.
Dr. Paulo Rodrigues-Santos
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- immunotherapy
- cancer treatment
- immune evasion
- therapy resistance
- immune monitoring
- CAR-T
- CAR-NK
- immune cell engineering
- synthetic immunology
- programmable immune circuits
- tumor–immune system interactions
- biomarker-guided therapy
- translational applications
- hematological malignancies
- solid malignancies
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