Development of Small Molecules as Immunomodulators and Adjuvants for Cancer Immunotherapy
A special issue of Pharmaceuticals (ISSN 1424-8247). This special issue belongs to the section "Pharmacology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 December 2026 | Viewed by 215
Editors
Interests: marine biomaterials
Interests: immunology; natural product drug discovery; cell biology; inflammation; microalgae
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Cancer immunotherapy has revolutionized the field of oncology, significantly prolonging patient survival through different modalities such as cancer vaccines, adoptive cellular immunotherapy, immunomodulators, and immune checkpoint inhibitors.
Even though antibody-based therapies have defined the current era of cancer immunotherapy there is a growing need for versatile alternatives to traditional treatments. Small molecules are rapidly emerging as immunotherapeutics, representing a transformative strategy and offering distinct pharmacological advantages, including oral bioavailability, high membrane permeability, and short half-lives.
These organic compounds effectively penetrate the tumor microenvironment (TME) to modulate intracellular signaling, thereby reversing tumor-mediated immunosuppression. Furthermore, the application of small molecules as adjuvants serves to enhance the sensitivity of tumors to primary immunotherapies and prevent recurrence. By leveraging their ability to prompt the host immune system, small-molecule therapeutics could improve patient response rates and widen the clinical reach of modern oncology.
In this Special Issue, our focus is on the development of new small immunomodulant molecules as potential therapeutic agents in cancer immunotherapy. Proposed topics will include (but are not limited to): Adjuvants and Immunomodulators; - Immunology mechanisms; - Synthetic strategies for the preparation of new immunomodulant molecules; - Innovative high throughput screening strategies; - Novel molecular immune mechanisms.
Dr. Laura Fioretto
Dr. Carmela Gallo
Dr. Mario Dell'Isola
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- cancer immunotherapy
- organic synthesis
- small molecules
- cancer therapy
- immunomodulators
- adjuvants
- immunology
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