Targeted Therapy in Hematological Malignancies: From Basic Research to Clinical Practice
1Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, China
2The University of Texas, Houston, USA
3Chinese Academy of Medical Science, Tianjin, China
Targeted Therapy in Hematological Malignancies: From Basic Research to Clinical Practice
Description
Targeted therapy has greatly changed the era of cancer treatment and has become one of the most rapidly evolving fields in both drug discovery and cancer treatment. The treatment of hematological malignancies has been a forerunner in targeted therapy, with one of the famous early hallmarks of successful targeted treatment by the use of all trans-retinoic acid in acute promyelocytic leukemia. Today, targeted therapy in hematological malignancies remains in the forefront of ongoing research. Over the past decades, many advances in hematology, genetics, epigenetics, biochemistry, chemistry, and other related disciplines have together greatly encouraged the development of targeted therapy. In tumor microenvironments, cancer cells and cancer stem cells, a multitude of different targets, including genes and their genetic or epigenetic modifiers, RNAs and noncoding RNAs, growth factors, receptors, enzymes, and signaling pathways involved in tumor initiation, growth and progression have been identified. Development of basic research boosted the improvement of targeted therapy in clinical studies. To date, targeted therapy has provided benefits for patients with hematological malignancies either as the first-line treatment or in combination with chemotherapy. Undoubtedly, in the near future, customized targeted therapy will play a more and more important role in hematological malignancies treatment.
In this special issue, we invite review and original research articles that describe new molecular targets, novel technologies, recent clinical trials, mechanism of drug resistance, and approaches to reduce side effects in hematological malignancies targeted therapy.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Discovery and verification of novel molecular targets for hematological malignancies
- Biomaterials, drug delivery, nanotechnology, and bioengineering in targeted therapy of hematological malignancies
- Clinical trials of targeted therapy for hematological malignancies
- Mechanism of drug resistance and strategies to overcome the resistance in hematological malignancies targeted therapy
- Side effects of targeted therapy for hematological malignancies
- Next generation sequencing, omics, and gene profiling in targeted therapy for hematological malignancies
- Stem cells in hematological malignancies targeted therapy