Long-Read Sequencing in Cancer

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Informatics and Big Data".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2025 | Viewed by 1025

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Cancer Research 6, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Rue Nicolas-Ernest Barblé, L-1210 Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Interests: genomics; cancer evolution; cancer biology; third-generation sequencing; bioinformatics

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Guest Editor
Core Labs, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955, Saudi Arabia
Interests: genomics; third-generation sequencing; sequencing technologies; data analysis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We use sequencing technologies to understand the complexity of cancer genomes and pinpoint their vulnerabilities to treat cancer. Next-generation sequencing has been widely used for more than a decade, resulting in enormous advances but also limitations, primarily due to short read lengths. Long-read sequencing technology (TGS) has emerged in recent years, ushering in a new era of research, and cancer genomics is one field where TGS can yield significant results.

TGS can generate any length of sequencing read, including extremely long reads that span complex genomic regions. This enables the study of complete structural variations and mutations at a single-allele phased resolution. TGS can directly characterize genome-wide hypo/hypermethylation patterns and identify full-length aberrant transcripts, making it an invaluable resource for immuno-oncology therapeutic targets. TGS can also provide bedside sequencing with rapid results for time-critical situations, as well as sequencing in resource-limited environments or remote locations. 

This Special Issue will focus on the role of TGS in cancer in allits facets, including all omics aspects related to long reads as well as a hybrid approach of long-/short-read sequencing. This Special Issue will look at both basic research and more (pre)clinical studies that advance our understanding of the complex cancer disease.

Dr. Luca Ermini
Dr. Patrick Driguez
Guest Editors

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Cancers 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 2900 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.

Keywords

  • long-read sequencing
  • cancer genetics
  • genomics
  • transcriptomics
  • methylomics
  • cancer research

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

20 pages, 1397 KiB  
Review
The Application of Long-Read Sequencing to Cancer
by Luca Ermini and Patrick Driguez
Cancers 2024, 16(7), 1275; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16071275 - 25 Mar 2024
Viewed by 757
Abstract
Cancer is a multifaceted disease arising from numerous genomic aberrations that have been identified as a result of advancements in sequencing technologies. While next-generation sequencing (NGS), which uses short reads, has transformed cancer research and diagnostics, it is limited by read length. Third-generation [...] Read more.
Cancer is a multifaceted disease arising from numerous genomic aberrations that have been identified as a result of advancements in sequencing technologies. While next-generation sequencing (NGS), which uses short reads, has transformed cancer research and diagnostics, it is limited by read length. Third-generation sequencing (TGS), led by the Pacific Biosciences and Oxford Nanopore Technologies platforms, employs long-read sequences, which have marked a paradigm shift in cancer research. Cancer genomes often harbour complex events, and TGS, with its ability to span large genomic regions, has facilitated their characterisation, providing a better understanding of how complex rearrangements affect cancer initiation and progression. TGS has also characterised the entire transcriptome of various cancers, revealing cancer-associated isoforms that could serve as biomarkers or therapeutic targets. Furthermore, TGS has advanced cancer research by improving genome assemblies, detecting complex variants, and providing a more complete picture of transcriptomes and epigenomes. This review focuses on TGS and its growing role in cancer research. We investigate its advantages and limitations, providing a rigorous scientific analysis of its use in detecting previously hidden aberrations missed by NGS. This promising technology holds immense potential for both research and clinical applications, with far-reaching implications for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Long-Read Sequencing in Cancer)
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