Biomarker for Molecular-Targeted Cancer Therapy

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on biomarkers that guide molecular-targeted cancer therapy, emphasizing how clinically relevant biomarkers can be translated into molecularly actionable targets through chemical and mechanistic investigation. As biomarkers become increasingly central to precision oncology, understanding their biochemical functions, structural properties, and targetability is essential for the rational development of effective therapies.

Chemical biology provides powerful approaches to dissect how biomarkers regulate oncogenic pathways, influence therapeutic responses, and create molecular vulnerabilities amenable to targeted intervention. These approaches—ranging from small-molecule modulators and chemical probes to mechanistic and pathway-level analyses—help bridge the gap between clinical biomarker discovery and molecular-targeted therapeutic development.

This Special Issue welcomes original research articles and reviews that integrate biomarker biology with molecular, biochemical, and chemical approaches, including, but not limited to, the following:

1. Biomarker-driven identification of druggable pathways and therapeutic vulnerabilities in cancer;
2. Chemical biology tools (small molecules, probes, inhibitors, degraders) for studying biomarker-associated signaling mechanisms;
3. Functional and mechanistic studies elucidating how biomarker-defined molecular alterations modulate cancer progression or treatment response;
4. Development and application of molecular probes and chemical imaging agents for biomarker detection, monitoring, or pathway interrogation;
5. Integrative multi-omics, structural, or biochemical analyses linking biomarker signatures to molecular interactions or therapeutic mechanisms;
6. Chemical or biochemical approaches to investigate drug resistance in biomarker-defined cancer subtypes;
7. AI-assisted or computational methods for predicting biomarker–target interactions or guiding molecular design of targeted therapeutics.

This Special Issue aims to bring together studies that combine clinical relevance with molecular precision, illustrating how biomarker insights can drive innovation in chemical biology and the development of targeted anticancer strategies.

Prof. Dr. Saeock Oh
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. Molecules 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 2700 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.