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Targeted Pharmacological Modulation of Cellular Pathology and Drug Discovery: A Translational Approach to Bridge Laboratory Discoveries with Clinical Practice

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pharmacology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 216

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, The University of Arizona, Arizona, MA, USA
Interests: machine learning; biostatistics; computational biology; deep learning

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The intersection of pharmacology, cellular pathology, and clinical medicine holds immense potential for transforming modern healthcare. This proposal aims to explore how targeted pharmacological interventions can modulate specific cellular pathologies to improve clinical outcomes in diseases such as cancer, neurodegeneration, and chronic inflammatory conditions. By focusing on cellular mechanism such as apoptosis, necroptosis, autophagy, and mitochondrial dysfunction, we will investigate how novel and repurposed drugs influence pathological cell behavior. Our multidisciplinary approach will combine pharmacokinetics, molecular signaling analysis, and histopathological assessments, alongside clinical trial data, to assess drug efficacy and cellular responses. This translational research will bridge laboratory findings with bedside applications, potentially accelerating the development of personalized treatment protocols. The study will also address clinical discipline challenges, such as drug resistance, variability in patient responses, and the need for biomarkers to guide therapy decisions. By integrating pharmacological insights with cellular pathology and clinical data, this research aims to contribute to the design of targeted, effective, and safer treatment strategies that align with the principles of precision medicine.

Topics covered include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Role of Small Molecule Inhibitors in Modulating Apoptotic Pathways in Cancer Cells
  • Pharmacological Modulation of Autophagy in Neurodegenerative Diseases
  • Targeting Mitochondrial Dysfunction Using Pharmacological Agents in Metabolic Syndromes
  • Modulating Inflammatory Cytokine Signaling through Biologic Drugs in Autoimmune Pathology
  • Impact of Epigenetic Drugs on Cellular Pathology in Hematologic Malignancies
  • Pharmacological Interventions in Cellular Fibrosis: Translating Mechanistic Pathology into Anti-Fibrotic Therapy
  • Targeted Pharmacotherapy for Hypoxia-Induced Cellular Injury in Ischemic Stroke
  • Drug-Induced Modulation of Angiogenesis in Tumor Microenvironments: Pathological and Clinical Perspectives
  • Cellular Pathology of Diabetic Complications: Therapeutic Targeting of Oxidative Stress and Inflammation
  • Modulating Cellular Senescence in Aging Tissues: From Drug Discovery to Clinical Anti-Aging Therapies
  • Bridging Preclinical Drug Testing with Clinical Efficacy: Case Studies in Targeted Cancer Therapies
  • Use of Patient-Derived Organoids to Evaluate Pharmacological Response in Pathological Tissues
  • Targeted Nanomedicine Delivery Systems for Site-Specific Modulation of Pathological Cells
  • Pharmacogenomic Approaches to Predict Drug Response Based on Cellular Pathology Profiles
  • Clinical Trials of Targeted Therapies Guided by Histopathological and Molecular Biomarkers
  • Clinical trials for in-vitro fertilization and drug medicine discovery.
  • Molecular docking and potential drug discovery
  • Epigenetic Age clock for CD+T cell samples and interaction between age clock signature and targeted drug

Dr. Saurav Mallik
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • targeted pharmacotherapy
  • cellular pathology
  • translational medicine
  • drug mechanism of action
  • signal transduction modulation
  • precision medicine
  • apoptosis and autophagy
  • biomarker-guided therapy
  • pathophysiology-driven drug design
  • clinical applications of molecular targets
  • molecular docking

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

25 pages, 5537 KB  
Article
Targeting Prostate Cancer Cells Using Anti-Sortilin and Anti-Syndecan-1 Antibody Drug Conjugates
by Ka Lok Li, Shane M. Hickey, Hugo Albrecht, Jessica M. Logan, Joanna Lazniewska, Courtney R. Moore, Robert D. Brooks, Ian R. D. Johnson, John J. O’Leary and Douglas A. Brooks
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2025, 26(22), 11145; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms262211145 - 18 Nov 2025
Abstract
Prostate cancer tissue usually involves either well formed glands, poorly formed glands or a combination of the two morphologies, which can be correlated with metabolic differences and tumor heterogeneity. This is particularly important for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, where the heterogeneity and metabolic [...] Read more.
Prostate cancer tissue usually involves either well formed glands, poorly formed glands or a combination of the two morphologies, which can be correlated with metabolic differences and tumor heterogeneity. This is particularly important for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, where the heterogeneity and metabolic changes drive cancer progression and treatment refractory properties. Sortilin and syndecan-1 expression accurately define the two different morphologies in prostate cancer tissue, are critical to the process of metabolic regulation, and exhibit mechanistic/functional interactions during prostate cancer progression. As trans-membrane proteins that recycle from endocytic compartments to the cell surface, sortilin and syndecan-1 are attractive targets for therapeutic intervention that address the two major forms of prostate cancer. In this study, we describe an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) strategy that utilizes monoclonal antibodies which bind to specific extracellular domains of these integral membrane proteins to elicit anticancer activity in prostate cancer cell lines. Anti-sortilin (clone 11H8) and anti-syndecan-1 (clone 6D11) monoclonal antibodies demonstrated high specificity for epitopes on the extracellular, N-terminal domains of these respective proteins and were effectively internalized into prostate cancer cell endocytic compartments. Monomethyl aurastatin E (MMAE)-conjugated ADCs exhibited low nanomolar cytotoxicity in LNCaP and PC-3 prostate cancer cells. Mechanistically, 11H8-MMAE and 6D11-MMAE triggered cytotoxicity and morphological alterations in androgen-sensitive and androgen-insensitive cells. However, the uptake of fluorescent labelled 11H8 and 6D11 antibodies appeared to be high, whereas the killing capacity of the MMAE-conjugated antibodies was less impressive, suggesting the need for further ADC development. These promising proof-of-concept ADCs are designed to exploit molecular and metabolic vulnerabilities in prostate cancer and may have utility for overcoming treatment resistance by simultaneously targeting different forms of the cancer. Full article
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