Emerging Trends in Cancer Drug Discovery: Tumor Initiating Cells and Computational Oncology

Call for Papers

While efforts to develop efficient cancer therapies have led to new cancer treatments, eradicating cancer remains an elusive goal. Recent research and clinical developments suggest emergence of common themes that provide new hope for improvements in managing and, in some cases, for curing cancer. Two are of particular interest and are the subject of this issue, both because of their potential to revolutionize our fundamental understanding of cancer biology and because they may lead to disruptive technology approaches into designing new therapies and improving cancer treatments.

The first has been the identification of tumor initiating (TICs) or cancer stem cells (CSCs) in multiple hematologic and solid malignancies. CSCs are considered the major cause of cancer relapse following traditional therapies and may contribute to its malignant spread. Of interest are the following research areas: CSCs isolated from different tumor types and by different methods, role of CSCs in vivo and CSC use in development of targeted therapies, CSC function in tumorigenesis, CSC phenotype and EMT, and their potential role in metastasis; CSC interactions with host immune system, tumor niche, hypoxia, and tumor vasculature; and the corresponding therapeutic approaches that target tumor/CSC-permissive microenvironment and CSC therapeutic susceptibility.

The second has been the rise of computational oncology: a collection of high-throughput data-driven methods that have enabled the mass interrogation of molecular, regulatory, metabolic, and cellular phenotypes of heterogeneous neoplastic cell populations and the host immune response that struggles to target them. Studies that use computational methods and large-scale tumor, patient sample, and/or cell analyses to identify relevant molecular targets, tumor signatures, immune responses, and patient profiles are welcome. Also, related biomarker discovery efforts, preclinical and clinical evaluation of candidate biomarkers and of patient and tumor stratification methodologies, and studies utilizing publicly available databases and tissue banks are also encouraged. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• In vitro and in vivo models for preclinical studies of TIC/CSC and their microenvironment
• Novel CSC targets
• Profiling CSC from multiple cancer backgrounds
• in vivo and in situ imaging of CSC
• Novel mechanisms of therapy resistance by CSC
• Targeting immune response
• Targeting tumor hypoxia
• Preclinical and clinical studies of CSC drug candidates
• Use of patient stratification and biopersonalized medicine in developing new cancer therapies
• Use of computational immunology in cancer drug discovery

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/bmri/oncology/cdd/ according to the following timetable:

Lead Guest Editor

• Ana Krtolica, SLL Sciences, StemLifeLine Inc., San Carlos, CA, USA

Guest Editors

• Kyuson Yun, Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine, USA
• Jacob Glanville, Stanford University and Distributed Bio Inc., Palo Alto, California, USA