Immuno-Oncology: Identification of Therapeutic Targets, Development of Novel Drugs and Improvement of Treatment Approaches for Cancer

Dear Colleagues

Recently, we witnessed an extraordinary development in cancer therapy, led by the evolving field of immuno–oncology. Traditional chemotherapy destroys cancer cells, but it also affects healthy cells. To overcome this dilemma, researchers have tried several approaches. Hormonal therapies inhibit growth-promoting hormones or block their survival signal to cancer cells, but this strategy only works for certain cancer types derived from hormonally responsive tissues. Thus, compounds targeting cancer-specific mutated genes were generated, and more target molecules are currently being investigated to develop new drugs. Immunotherapy is an evolution of targeted therapy where the immune system is targeted to improve its ability to kill cancer cells. Passive immunotherapies enhance the immune system’s antitumor response using monoclonal antibodies, and the aim of current research is to optimize this strategy by developing personalized treatments. Active immunotherapy directly stimulates the immune system to kill cancer cells either by targeting immune-checkpoints inhibitors (thus interfering with the tumor’s ability to inhibit the immune system from attacking cancer cells) or by engineering patient T cells to recognize and kill cancer cells more efficiently (CAR-T therapy). Additionally, effective vaccines are already employed for infectious agent-related cancers and immunoprevention of cancers not related to infectious agents was observed in transgenic mice with activated oncogenes, indicating that stimulation of the immune system in healthy hosts can inhibit carcinogenesis. These strategies, are having an extraordinary success, but they can have side effects. Since these approaches are quickly taking over classic chemotherapy, perfecting immuno–oncology is essential to improve patient wellbeing. Hence, in this issue, we will discuss the most recent discoveries leading to the development of a new generation of drugs and therapeutic approaches for cancer treatment.

Dr. Veronica Balatti
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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Clinical Medicine 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 2600 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.